CHAPTER 1 : MYTHS OF CREATION

GENESIS FROM CHAOS Hesiod in his epic poem the Theogony offers the earliest Greek version of
genesis. CHAOS ("yawning void") provides the beginning for creation. Out of Chaos the universe came
into being. Later writers interpret Chaos as a mass of many elements (or only four: earth, air, fire, and
water) from which the universe was created. From Hesiod's Chaos came Ge, Tartarus, Eros, Erebus, and
Night.
GAIA [geye'a], GAEA [jee'a], or GE [gay]. Most important and first, Gaia, the earth and fertility
mother, came from Chaos. Contemporary feminist approaches to mythology lay great importance
on the fact that many early societies first conceived of deity as a woman.
EROS [er'os] (CUPID). From Chaos came Eros, the potent concept of Love, which is
fundamental.
TARTARUS [tar'ta-rus], or TARTAROS. Tartarus, which came out of Chaos, was an area in the
depths of the earth. It became a place of punishment in the Underworld; EREBUS [er'e-bus], or
EREBOS, its darkness, became another name for Tartarus itself.
THE HOLY OR SACRED MARRIAGE OF EARTH AND SKY
URANUS [ou'ra-nus and you-ray'nus], or OURANOS. Of the elements that Gaia, earth, produced on her
own, most significant is Uranus, the male sky or heavens, with his lightning and thunder. The deification of
the feminine, mother earth, and masculine, god of the sky, is basic to mythological and religious thinking.
Their marriage is designated as a HOLY, or SACRED MARRIAGE, a translation of the Greek HIEROS
GAMOS [hi'er-os ga'mos], which has become the technical term.
THE CHILDREN OF URANUS AND GAIA
The holy marriage of sky and earth produced the following:

The three CYCLOPES [seye-klo'peez], or KYKLOPES. Each CYCLOPS [seye'klops], or

KYKLOPS, meaning "Orb-Eyed," had only one eye in the middle of his forehead. They forged
lightening and thunder bolts.
The three HECATONCHIRES [hek-a-ton-keye'reez], or HEKATONCHEIRES, "HundredHanded": strong and monstrous creatures.
The twelve TITANS: six brothers and six sisters who mate with each other.

SOME TITANS AND THEIR OFFSPRING

Deities of Waters. The Titan OCEANUS [o-see'an-us], or OKEANOS was the stream of Ocean that
encircles the disc of the earth in the early concept of geography. He is the father of the many spirits of
waters (rivers, springs, etc.), the OCEANIDS [o-see'an-idz], three-thousand daughters and three-thousand
sons.
Gods of the Sun. The titan HYPERION [heye-per'i-on], god of the sun, was father of HELIUS [hee'li-us],
or HELIOS, also a god of the sun. Later the god APOLLO [a-pol'loh] became a god of the sun as well. The
sun-god dwells in the East, crosses the dome of the sky in his chariot drawn by a team of four horses,
descends in the West into the stream of Oceanus, which encircles the earth, and then sails back to the East
to begin a new day.
The Son of a Sun-god. PHAETHON [fay'e-thon], son of the sun-god, whether he be called Hyperion,
Helius, or Apollo, wanted to be certain that the Sun was really his father and so he went to the splendid
palace of the Sun in order to find out. The sun-god assured Phaethon that he was his father, swearing a
dread oath that the boy could have anything that he desired. Thus Phaethon was granted his adamant

request that he be allowed to drive the sun-chariot for one day. Too inexperienced to control the horses,
Phaethon created havoc, and in answer to the prayers of Earth was hurtled to his death by the lightning of
the supreme god, Zeus or Jupiter. This tale illustrates the brave folly of youth, the conflict between parents
and their children, and the search for identity.
Goddesses of the Moon. SELENE [se-lee'nee], goddess of the moon, is a daughter of the titan Hyperion,
and she drives a two-horse chariot. Later the goddess ARTEMIS [ar'te-mis] (DIANA) becomes a moongoddess. Selene (or Artemis) fell desperately in love with the hunter ENDYMION [en-di'mi-on] and used
to abandon her duties in the heaven to visit the cave of her beloved. In the end, Endymion was granted
perpetual sleep and eternal youth.
Goddess of the Dawn. EOS [ee'os] (AURORA), goddess of the dawn, was a third child of Hyperion. She,
like Selene, drives a two-horse chariot. Eos fell in love with the mortal TITHONUS [ti-thoh'nus], or
TITHONOS and carried him off. The supreme god Zeus granted her prayer that Tithonus be made immortal
and live forever. Poor Eos forgot to ask for eternal youth for her beloved. Tithonus grew older and older,
finally being turned into a shrivelled grasshopper, while the passion of the eternally beautiful goddess
cooled to become dutiful devotion. This tragic story illustrates how our ignorant wishes may be granted to
our woe and illuminates the contrast between lovely and sensuous youth and ugly and debilitating old age.
Eos and Tithonus had a son named Memnon, who is killed by Achilles in the Trojan saga (see M/L,
Chapter 17). The amorous Eos also carried off other lovers, including Cephalus, who became the husband
of Procris in Athenian saga (see M/L, Chapter 21).
CASTRATION OF URANUS AND THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE
Uranus hated his children, and as they were about to be born he hid them in the depths of their mother
earth, Gaia. The mythic image is Hesiod's poetic merging of vast sky and earth imagined, at the same time,
as man and woman, husband and wife. Gaia's anguished appeals for revenge were answered by the lastborn, the wily Cronus. He agreed to accept the jagged-toothed sickle that his mother had fashioned and,
from his ambush, he castrated his father as he was about to make love to his mother. The severed genitals of
Uranus were cast upon the sea and from them a maiden grew, APHRODITE [af-roh-deye'tee] (VENUS),
the powerful goddess of beauty and love.
THE TITANS CRONUS AND RHEA AND THE BIRTH OF ZEUS
CRONUS [kro'nus], or KRONOS (SATURN), and RHEA [ray'a and ree'a], two important Titans, had
several children who were devoured by their father as they were born. Cronus, who had castrated and
overthrown his own father Uranus, was afraid that he too would be overcome by one of his children.
Therefore, when their son ZEUS [zous] (JUPITER) was born, Rhea contrived that his birth be hidden from
Cronus. She bore Zeus on the island of Crete and gave her husband a stone wrapped in baby's clothes to
devour. Zeus was hidden in a cave and grew up eventually to overthrow his unwitting father; he will marry
his sister HERA [hee'ra] (JUNO) and they will become secure as King and Queen of the gods.

CHAPTER TWO: ZEUS RISE TO POWER: THE CREATION OF MORTALS

THE TITANOMACHY: ZEUS DEFEATS HIS FATHER CRONUS
This epic battle was waged for ten years between Zeus and the Olympians and Cronus and the Titans.
Cronus fought from Mt. Orthys; his allies were the Titans except for Themis and her son PROMETHEUS
[proh-mee'the-us]. Prometheus' brother ATLAS [at'las] sided with Cronus.
Zeus fought from Mt. Olympus and his allies, in addition to Themis and Prometheus, were his brothers
and sisters who had been swallowed by Cronus but later regurgitated, namely: Hestia, Demeter, Hera,
Hades, and Poseidon. Also on his side were the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes.
Zeus was victorious and the Titans were imprisoned in Tartarus, guarded by the Hecatonchires; and Atlas
was punished with the task of holding up the sky.
THE GIGANTOMACHY: ZEUS DEFEATS THE GIANTS AND TYPHOEUS
Giants, called GEGENEIS [jee'je-nays and gay'ge-nays], since they were "born from the Earth," challenged
Zeus and the new order of the gods. They were defeated in a fierce battle and were imprisoned under the
earth. Volcanoes, when they erupt, reveal the presence of the giants below.
TYPHOEUS [teye-fee'us], also called TYPHAON [teye-fay'on], or TYPHON [teye'fon], was a ferocious
dragon-god whom earth produced to do battle with Zeus, either separately or alongside the Giants in the
great Gigantomachy. Zeus' triumph singles him out as an archetypal dragon-slayer.

The giants, OTUS [oh'tus], or OTOS, and EPHIALTES [ef-i-al'teez], failed in a separate act in
their attempt to storm heaven by piling the mountains Olympus, Ossa, and Pelion, one upon the
other.
The Titanomachy and the Gigantomachy are often confused in literature and art, and details vary
considerably.

THE FOUR OR FIVE AGES

There are several conflicting versions about the creation of mortals. According to the myth of the ages of
humankind, men and women are the creation of the gods or Zeus himself. The following is a summary of
Hesiod's account. Ovid describes only four ages, omitting the Age of Heroes. This tale of human
degeneration mingles fact and fancy in an astonishing manner, for ages of bronze and of iron are
historically very real indeed.
The Age of Gold. In the time when Cronus (Saturn) was king in heaven, the Olympian gods made a golden
race of mortals who lived as though in a paradise, without toil, trouble, or cares. All good things were theirs
in abundance and the fertile earth brought forth fruit of its own accord. They lived in peace and harmony,
never grew old, and died as though overcome by sleep. The earth covered over this race but they still exist
as holy spirits who wander over the earth.
The Age of Silver. The Olympian gods made a second race of silver, far worse than the one of gold. Their
childhood lasted a hundred years and when they grew up their lives were short and distressful. They were
arrogant against one another and refused to worship the gods or offer them sacrifice. Zeus, in his anger at
their senselessness, hid them under the earth where they still dwell.
The Age of Bronze. Zeus made a third race of mortals, a terrible and mighty one of bronze. Their
implements and weapons were of bronze and they relentlessly pursued the painful and violent deeds of war.

They destroyed themselves by their own hands and went down to the realm of Hades without leaving a
name.
The Age of Heroes. Zeus made still another race, also valiant in war but more just and more civilized. This
was the race of the heroes, also called demigods, who were involved in the legendary events of Greek saga.
They fought, for example, at Thebes and in the Trojan War. When they died, Zeus sent some of these heroes
to inhabit the Islands of the Blessed, a paradise at the far ends of the earth, ruled over by Cronus (Saturn),
who had been deposed and freed by Zeus.
The Age of Iron. Zeus made still another race, that of iron, troubled by toil and misery, although good is
intermingled with their evils. It is in this age that the poet Hesiod lived and he exclaims in woe: "Would
that I were not a man of the fifth generation but had either died before or had been born later." He predicts
further moral and physical disintegration and annihilation through war, until Zeus will finally destroy
human beings when it comes to pass that they are born with grey hair on their temples. More and more will
this become an age of wickedness, strife, and disrespect for the gods, until Shame itself and righteous
Retribution will abandon mortals to their evil folly and doom.
PROMETHEUS OUR CREATOR
Dominant in the tradition about creation is the myth that Prometheus (not Zeus) was the creator of human
beings from clay, and Athena breathed into them the divine spirit. In the version of Hesiod, although his
account is far from logical and clear, it seems that Prometheus fashioned only mankind. Womenkind was
created later, through the agency of Zeus, in the person of Pandora.
PROMETHEUS AGAINST ZEUS
Although Prometheus had fought on the side of Zeus in his war against Cronus, the two mighty gods soon
came into conflict once Zeus had assumed supreme power.
The Nature of Sacrifice. Their antagonism began when Prometheus dared to match wits with Zeus. There
was a quarrel between mortals and the gods, apparently about how the parts of the sacrificial animals
should be apportioned. Prometheus divided up a great ox and for his creatures, us mortals, he wrapped the
flesh and the rich and fatty innards in the ox's paunch. For the gods, however, he deviously and artfully
wrapped up the bones of the ox in its enticing, rich, white fat. He asked Zeus to take his choice between the
two portions, and Zeus, fully aware of Prometheus' deception, chose the bones attractively wrapped in fat.
Thus it was that when the Greeks made sacrifice to the gods, they enjoyed feasting upon the best edible
portions of the animals, while only the white bones that remained were burned for the gods.
The Theft of Fire. Zeus was enraged at Prometheus' attempt to deceive him and wreaked his vengeance
upon mortals, the creatures of Prometheus. He took away from them fire, essential to their livelihood and
progress. Prometheus, defiantly our champion, once again tricked Zeus (who this time was presumably at
first unaware?) by stealing fire (in a hollow fennel stalk) from heaven and restoring it to earth. Zeus was
stung to the depths of his heart by Prometheus' outrage and "contrived an evil thing for mortals in
recompense for the fire," namely the woman Pandora.
The Punishment of Prometheus. A further defiance of Prometheus was his refusal to reveal to Zeus a
crucial secret that he knew and Zeus did not. If Zeus mated with the sea-goddess Thetis, she would bear a
son who would overthrow his father. Thus Zeus faced the terrible risk of losing his power as supreme god,
like Cronus and Uranus before him. The outcome of Zeus' anger against Prometheus for his rebellious
championship of mortals and his obstinate refusal to warn Zeus about Thetis was a dire punishment. Zeus
had the wily and devious Prometheus bound in inescapable bonds to a crag of the remote Caucasus
mountains in Scythia, with a shaft driven through his middle. And he sent an eagle to eat Prometheus'
immortal liver each day, and what the eagle ate would be restored again each night. Generations later,
however, Zeus worked out a reconciliation with Prometheus and sent his son Heracles to kill the eagle with

an arrow and release Prometheus. Zeus avoided mating with Thetis, who married a mortal Peleus and bore
a son Achilles to become mightier than his father.
PANDORA
The woman that Zeus sent as a beautiful and treacherous evil to mortals in punishment for their possession
of Prometheus' stolen fire was named PANDORA [pan-dor'a] ("all gifts"). He had Hephaestus fashion her
out of earth and water in the image of a modest maiden, beautiful as a goddess. Athena clothed her in
silvery garments and her face was covered with a wondrously embroidered veil. She placed on her head
lovely garlands of flowers and a golden crown, beautifully made and intricately decorated by Hephaestus.
Athena also taught her weaving. Aphrodite bestowed upon her the grace of sexual allurement and desire
and their pain. Hermes contrived in her breast wheedling words and lies and the nature of a thief and a
bitch. This was all at the will of Zeus.
Zeus sent this snare to the brother of Prometheus, named EPIMETHEUS [ep-i-mee'the-us]. He received
the gift even though his brother had warned him not to accept anything sent from Zeus. The name
Prometheus means forethought, but Epimetheus means afterthought.
Pandora's Jar. Zeus sent with Pandora a jar, urn, or box, which contained evils of all sorts, as well as
hope. She herself removed the cover and released the miseries within to plague human beings, who
previously had led carefree and happy lives: hard work, painful diseases, and thousands of sorrows.
Through the will of Zeus, hope alone remained within the jar, because, without it life would be hopeless,
unbearable in the face of all the horrible woes unleashed for poor mortals. In Hesiod, Pandora is not
motivated to open the jar by a so-called feminine curiosity, whatever later versions may imply.
AESCHYLUS' PROMETHEUS BOUND
In addition to Hesiod, Aeschylus' play, Prometheus Bound, is fundamental for an understanding of the
archetypal Prometheus. Aeschylus powerfully establishes Prometheus as our suffering champion who
advanced human beings, through his gift of fire, from savagery to civilization. Furthermore, he gave us the
hope denied to us by Zeus, which, however blind, permits us to persevere and triumph over the terrible
vicissitudes of life. Prometheus is grandly portrayed as the archetypal trickster and culture-god, the
originator of all inventions and progress in the arts and the sciences. At the end of the play, Prometheus is
still defiant, chained to his rock, and still refusing to reveal the secret of the marriage of Thetis. The conflict
between the suffering hero and the tyrannical god was resolved in the lost plays of Aeschylus' Prometheus
trilogy (i.e., group of three connected plays). In that resolution, Aeschylus presumably depicted Zeus as a
god of wisdom who, through the suffering of Prometheus, established himself in the end as a triumphant,
almighty god secure in his supreme power, brought about through his divine plan for reconciliation.
Io. This divine plan of Zeus for reconciliation with a defeated Prometheus entailed the suffering of IO
[eye'oh], a priestess of Hera who was loved by Zeus. Hera found out and turned Io into a white cow. She
appointed a guard to watch over Io, a very good one indeed, since he had many eyes (perhaps as many as
one hundred), and his name was ARGUS [ar'gus], or PANOPTES [pan-op'teez] ("all-seeing"). Zeus rescued
Io by sending Hermes to lull Argus to sleep and cut off his head. Henceforth Hermes was given the title
ARGEIPHONTES [ar-ge-i-fon'teez] ("slayer of Argus"). Hera set Argus' eyes in the tail of a peacock, her
favorite bird, and continued her jealous persecution of Io by sending a gadfly to drive her mad. Frenzied, Io
in her wanderings over the world encountered Prometheus. In Aeschylus, these two "victims" of Zeus
commiserate with one another. We learn, however, that Io will find peace in Egypt where she will be
restored to her human form and bear a son, EPAPHUS [ep'a-fus], or EPAPHOS, a name which means "he
of the touch." Io had become pregnant, not through sexual rape, but by the mere touch of the hand of god.
Among the descendants of Epaphus would be the mighty Heracles who would bring about the release of
Prometheus. The fulfillment of the will of Zeus was in the end accomplished.

THE FLOOD
Lycaon and the Wickedness of Mortals. In the age of iron, Zeus took the form of a man to find out
whether reports of the great wickedness of mortals were true. He visited the home of LYCAON [leyekay'on], or LYKAON, and announced that a god was present, but Lycaon, an evil tyrant, only scoffed and
planned to kill Zeus during the night to prove that he was not a god. Lycaon even went so far as to slaughter
a man and offer human flesh as a meal for Zeus, who in anger brought the house down in flames. Lycaon
fled but was turned into a howling, bloodthirsty wolf, a kind of werewolf in fact, since in this
transformation he still manifested his human, evil looks and nature. Disgusted with the wickedness that he
found everywhere he roamed, Zeus decided that the human race must be destroyed by a great flood.
Deucalion and Pyrrha. Zeus allowed only two pious mortals to be saved, DEUCALION [dou-kay'li-on],
or DEUKALION (the Greek Noah), the son of Prometheus, and his wife PYRRHA [pir'ra], the daughter of
Epimetheus. When the flood subsided they found themselves in their little boat stranded on Mount
Parnassus. They were dismayed to discover that they were the only survivors and consulted the oracle of
Themis about what they should do. The goddess ordered them to toss the bones of their great mother
behind their backs. Deucalion understood that the stones in the body of earth are her bones. And so the
stones that Deucalion tossed behind his back were miraculously transformed into men, while those cast by
Pyrrha became women. In this way the world was repopulated.
Hellen and the Hellenes. Deucalion and Pyrrha had a son named HELLEN [hel'len]. The ancient Greeks
called themselves HELLENES [hel'leenz] and their country HELLAS [hel'las] and so Hellen was their
eponymous ancestor.

CHAPTER 3: THE TWELVE OLYMPIANS: ZEUS, HERA AND THEIR CHILDREN

THE OLYMPIAN DEITIES
GREEK NAME [pronunciation] (ROMAN EQUIVALENT)
APHRODITE [af-roh-deye'tee] (VENUS)
APOLLO [a-pol'loh]
ARES [ar'eez] (MARS)
ARTEMIS [ar'te-mis] (DIANA)
ATHENA [a-thee'-na] or ATHENE (MINERVA)
DEMETER [de-mee'ter] (CERES)
DIONYSUS [Deye-o-neye'sus] or DIONYSOS (BACCHUS)
HADES [hay'deez] (PLUTO)
HEPHAESTUS [he-fees'tus and he-fes'tus] or HEPHAISTOS (VULCAN)
HERA [hee'ra] (JUNO)
HERMES [her'meez] (MERCURY)
HESTIA [hes'ti-a] (VESTA)
POSEIDON [po-seye'don] (NEPTUNE)
ZEUS [zous] (JUPITER)

The fourteen major deities are listed above, alphabetically.

Zeus is the supreme god and his wife is Hera; they are king and queen, father and mother of gods
and mortals.
Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades are the trinity who control the important spheres of power: Zeus, god
of the sky, Poseidon, god of the sea, and Hades, god of the Underworld.
Apollo has the same name for both the Greeks and the Romans.
The fourteen deities are reduced to a canon of twelve Olympians: Hestia is removed from the list
and so is Hades, whose home is not Mt. Olympus but the Underworld.

HESTIA, GODDESS OF THE HEARTH AND ITS FIRE

HESTIA [hes'ti-a], "hearth," (VESTA) was the august and revered goddess of the hearth and its fire, which
was considered sacred and a symbol of both the home and community. She remained a virgin and was a
goddess of chastity, just like Athena and Artemis. For the Romans she was the goddess VESTA and vestal
virgins attended to her worship.

ZEUS AND HERA

ZEUS [zous], "bright" (JUPITER), originally a god of the sky became the supreme god with final authority.
He appears as a bearded, regal figure with a sceptre and a bolt of lightening and thunder in his hand. He
often carries his shield, the AEGIS, which is also an attribute of his favorite daughter Athena. He married
his sister HERA [hee'ra] (JUNO), originally an earth mother goddess. As the wife and consort of Zeus, she
retains much of her inherent dominance to become a difficult partner.
The characterization of Zeus is most complex. On the one hand, he mirrors the harrassed, philandering
husband, who has countless affairs and is upbraided and intimidated by a self-righteous, nagging wife. On
the other, he emerges as the almighty god of morality and religion, a just god who rewards the good and
punishes the wicked.
THE SANCTUARY OF ZEUS AT OLYMPIA
The most important sanctuary of Zeus was at Olympia beside the river Alpheus in the territory of the city of
Elis in the north-western Peloponnese. Here the Olympic games originated in 776 B.C., said to have been
founded by Zeus' son, Heracles. Among its many buildings was an imposing temple of Hera, but the temple
of Zeus was the most magnificent, adorned with the following sculpture:

West pediment - the battle of the Greeks and the centaurs at the wedding of the Lapith king
Perithous (a son of Zeus). Particularly impressive is the central figure of Apollo (another son of
Zeus) with arm outstretched, imposing order on the scene of violence and chaos (see M/L, Chapter
23).
East pediment - the fateful chariot race between Pelops and Hippodamia and her father
Oenomas; the central figure of Zeus assured Pelops' victory in the coming race and the winning
of Hippodamia as his wife (see M/L, Chapter 16).
Doric frieze - metopes (relief sculpture) depicting the twelve labors of Heracles.
The cult statue of Zeus in the naos (or cella), made by the Athenian sculptor Pheidias. It was huge,
with its surfaces inlaid in gold and ivory. This regal Zeus was seated on a throne that was
elaborately decorated with various mythological motifs.

THE SANCTUARY OF ZEUS AT DODONA

Dodona in northern Greece was another significant sanctuary of Zeus. Here, however, the oracle of Zeus
was the most important element. Private individuals and political representatives came to Dodona with
questions of every sort. The god answered by means of various omens (such as the rustling of the leaves of
his sacred oaks) and eventually through a priestess (in a manner similar to the more famous sanctuary of
Apollo at Delphi).
CHILDREN OF ZEUS AND HERA: EILEITHYIA, HEBE, HEPHAESTUS, AND ARES
EILEITHYIA [eye-leye-theye'a] was a goddess of childbirth, like her mother Hera, and Artemis.
HEBE [hee'bee], "youthful bloom," was a cupbearer of the gods. She became the wife of Heracles.
HEPHAESTUS [he-fees'tus and he-fes'tus], or HEPHAISTOS (VULCAN), was sometimes considered to
be the son of Hera alone. He was lame from birth and Hera, ashamed of his deformity, cast him out of
Olympus; we are also told that once, when he interfered in a quarrel between Zeus and Hera on behalf of
his mother, Zeus hurled him down from Olympus and he landed on the island of Lemnos, which became
his cult-place. In either case, he was restored to Olympus. Hephaestus was above all a divine artisan and
smith, a god of the forge and its fire, whose workshop was said to be in various places, including Olympus.

Assisted by the three Cyclopes, he could create marvelous masterpieces of every sort, among them the
shield of Achilles.
ARES [ar'eez] (MARS) was the virile and brutal god of war, associated with the area of Thrace.
HEPHAESTUS, APHRODITE, AND ARES
The wife of Hephaestus was Aphrodite [af-roh-deye'tee] (VENUS); theirs was an archetypal union between
the lame intellectual and the sensuous beauty. Aphrodite turned to the handsome and whole Ares for sexual
gratification (playing out yet another archetype); but military Ares and promiscuous Aphrodite were
outwitted by the ingenious and moral Hephaestus, who fashioned unbreakable chains that were fine as a
spider's web and hung them as a trap on the bedposts above his bed. Thus he ensnared the unwitting lovers
in the midst of their illicit lovemaking and summoned the gods down from Olympus to witness the
ludicrous scene. Ares and Aphrodite were released from their chains only when it was agreed that Ares
should pay an adulterer's fine.
For the Romans the relationship between Vulcan (Ares) and Venus (Aphrodite) was of serious poltical
import. Their union represented allegorically the conquest of war by love. The Roman Peace (Pax Romana)
was the happy and noble result.
GANYMEDE
Zeus, in the form of an eagle or a whirlwind, carried off the handsome Trojan GANYMEDE [gan'i-meed]
to be a cupbearer to the gods like Hebe. The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite explains:
Zeus in his wisdom seized and carried off fair-haired Ganymede because of his beauty, so that he might
be in the company of the gods and pour wine for them in the house of Zeus, a wonder to behold, esteemed
by all the immortals, as he draws red nectar from a golden bowl.
Zeus took pity on Ganymede's father, who mourned since his son had mysteriously disappeared, and
gave him the gift of wondrous horses. To console the father, Zeus sent Hermes to explain how Ganymede
would never grow old but be immortal just like the gods. And the father rejoiced.
The innocence of this depiction implies the joyous calling of a young man chosen by god for a special
immortality. The sensual appreciation of beauty, on the other hand, encourages another intrepretation: the
passionate, homosexual love of the supreme god Zeus for the young and handsome Ganymede.
THE NINE MUSES, DAUGHTERS OF ZEUS AND MEMORY
Zeus mated with MNEMOSYNE (ne-mos'i-nee) "memory," to produce the nine MUSES [myou'zez]
("reminders"), patron goddesses of the arts; thus allegorically, god and memory provide creative
inspiration. They live in Pieria in northern Thessaly (and are called the PIERIDES, peye-er'i-deez) or near
the fountain Hippocrene on Mt. Helicon in Boeotia. Their spheres are sometimes specifically assigned:
CALLIOPE (kal-leye'o-pee), epic poetry
CLIO (klyeye'oh), history, lyre playing
ERATO (er'a-toh), love poetry, hymns to the gods, lyre playing
EUTERPE (you-ter'pee), lyric poetry, tragedy, flute playing

MELPOMENE (mel-pom'e-nee), tragedy, lyre playing

POLYHYMNIA (pol-i-him'ni-a), sacred music, dancing
TERPSICHORE (terp-sik'o-ree), choral dancing, flute playing
THALIA (tha-leye'a), comedy
URANIA (you-ray'ni-a), astronomy
THE THREE FATES
The three Fates, the MOIRAI (moi'reye), the Roman Moerae, were the daughters of Zeus and Themis (or
Night and Erebus). They were imagined as three old women spinners, and considered to control the thread
of life and thus each person's destiny:
CLOTHO (kloh'thoh), "spinner," spins out the thread of life.
LACHESIS (lak'e-sis), "apportioner," measures the thread.
ATROPOS (at'ro--pos), "inflexible," cuts the thread.

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CHAPTER 4: ANTHROPOMORPHISM AND GREEK HUMANISM

THE NATURE OF THE GODS
Anthropomorphism. The Greeks and Romans (like most peoples) conceived of their deities as
ANTHROPOMORPHIC, that is human in form and character. These gods and goddess are idealized
mortals in their physical beauty (although Hephaestus is lame), human beings made larger than life through
the intensity of their emotions (however grand or petty these may be) and their superhuman powers. They
perform extraordinary feats, change shape, become invisible, and fly. On the other hand, they appear
tragically human in their pain and sorrows, their rivalries, and their sins. ICHOR, not blood, runs through
their veins, and they feast not on the food of mortals but instead drink NECTAR and eat AMBROSIA. In
the last analysis, proof of their divinity lies in their immortality.
Olympian Deities. The major deities have as their home Mt. Olympus, where they dwell in splendid
houses and enjoy opulent feasts in halls that echo with their inexstinguishable laughter. Individual gods and
goddesses frequent favorite cult places or cities. These immortals are worshiped by mortals in temples and
honored with statues, altars, and animal sacrifices. Priests and priestesses serve them and officiate at
celebrations; at an oracular shrine such as Delphi, they convey the god's responses to the prayers and
inquiries of suppliants.
Chthonic Deities. Those gods and goddesses who are primarily associated with the underworld are called
CHTHONIC ("of the earth"). Although Hades is an Olympian, he is primarily a chthonic deity because he
is king of the Underworld and so is his wife and queen Persephone, for at least the part of the year that she
is with him. Hecate and the Furies are other examples of important chthonic deities.
Nymphs. Among the various lower echelons of divinity are spirits who animate.htmlects of nature, all of
whom may not necessarily be immortal but merely long-lived. The feminine spirits are often imagined as
attractive nymphs, called NAIADS if they inhabit waters, and DRYADS if they inhabit trees.
Zeus and Greek Monotheism. Within the polytheistic cast of Greek and Roman mythology and religion,
there is a strong element of monotheism from the very beginning. In both Homer and Hesiod, Zeus is
unquestionably the sovereign deity and he is very much concerned with moral values. Yet his monotheism
and patriarchy are severely tested by other divinities, especially goddesses. Hera's power is able to thwart
Zeus' plans. Aphrodite can bend all the gods to her will, Zeus included, except for the three virgins, Hestia,
Athena, and Artemis. Demeter, angry at the rape of her daughter Persephone, forces Zeus and the gods to
come to her terms. And Zeus must yield to fate or the fates, although this need not always be the case.
At the same time, in the evolution of Zeus as the one supreme god, he became the almighty god of
morality and justice until he could be referred to without a name and simply as god in an abstract, rather
than specific, anthropomorphic conception. This greater sophistication in thought, which gave Zeus a more
unquestionable, absolute authority, came about through the writings of religious poets and philosophers.
Ultimately in the sixth century B.C., Xenophanes argued against the folly of conceiving deities as human
beings and insisted (frag. 23) that there is "one god, greatest among gods and mortals, not at all like them,
either in body or in mind."
Greek Humanism. A belief in the inevitability of fate or the fates created a particularly somber mood for
the development of Greek literature. This sense of predetermined destiny for each individual was analyzed

11

in terms of the meaning and possibility of free will and independent action. There also developed a strong
and realistic awareness of the misery, uncertainty, and unpredictability of human life ordained by the gods.
If we are lucky, our lives will be more blessed by happiness than doomed to misery; still, the terrible
vicissitudes of life lead to only one conclusion: it is better to be dead than alive.
In opposition to this pessimism was an uplifting faith in the potential of human endeavor to triumph
against all divine odds. According to the fifth century philosopher Protagoras, "Man is the measure of all
things," meaning that mortals, not gods, are the arbiters of the human condition. In this optimistic mood
about the hope and achievement possible in this life, Achilles in Homer's Odyssey cries out that he would
sooner be alive, the slave of a poor man, rather than dead, a king in the Underworld.
These two seemingly irreconcilable views account for a unique humanism originated by the Greeks, its
emphasis upon the beauty and wonder of mortal achievement attained in the face of horrible disasters
which a vindictive god may dispense at any moment.
THE LEGEND OF SOLON AND CROESUS
In the text of his History of The Persian Wars, Herodotus presents a brilliant crystallization of the tragic, yet
uplifting nature of Greek humanism, which can only be truly understood through the emotional and
intellectual experience afforded by great art.
Tellus the Athenian. After a year of office in Athens with extraordinary powers (594/3 B.C.) during which
he wrought many political and economic reforms, the wise man SOLON [soh'lon] set out to see the world.
Among those he visited was the rich and powerful CROESUS [kree'sus], or KROISOS, the king of Lydia,
whose capital was at Sardis. Croesus tried to impress his guest with a tour of his vast treasures, before he
asked Solon the question, "Who is the happiest of human beings?" Croesus, of course, expected that he
would be so designated, but Solon, surprisingly, identified an unknown Athenian, named TELLUS [tel'lus],
or TELLOS. His reasons for the choice were as follows: Tellus came from a prosperous city and was
prosperous himself (by the standards of Athens not Lydian Croesus) so that he could fulfill his full potential
as a human being. He had beautiful and good children, to whom he saw children born and all survive.
Finally he died gloriously fighting on behalf of his family and his city, and was honored with burial at
public expense in the place where he fell.
Cleobis and Biton. Despotic Croesus, taken back, persisted in asking who was the second happiest, fully
expecting that he would at least win second place. But Solon refused to flatter or be intimidated and named
two young men from Argos, CLEOBIS [kle'-o-bis], or KLEOBIS, and BITON [beye'ton], who had won
prizes in the athletic games. Their mother was a priestess of Hera, who had to be present at the festival of
the goddess. Once when the oxen did not arrive in time, her two sons yoked themselves to their mother's
chariot and brought her to the temple, a journey of five miles. The whole congregation marvelled at this
deed, congratulating the youths for their strength and their mother for having such fine sons. She was
overjoyed and prayed before the statue of the goddess to give her sons the best thing for human beings to
attain. After they had sacrificed and feasted, Cleobis and Biton went to sleep in the temple and never woke
up. The end of their life was the very best and thereby god showed clearly how it is better to be dead than
alive. Statues of the brothers were set up in Delphi, since they had been the best of men.
The Nature of God and Human Life. Angrily, Croesus asked why his happiness was dismissed as nothing
and he was not even put on a par with ordinary men. Solon explained. All deity is jealous and fond of
causing trouble. Furthermore, in the length of a lifetime of seventy years there is much that one does not
wish to see and not one of the days in all those years will bring exactly the same experiences. A human
being is completely a thing of chance.
A human life cannot be judged happy until it has been completed. The one from whom fate has kept most
evils and misfortunes and to whom fate has given most blessings and good fortune, this one is the happiest,
provided as well that his death at the end is good. It is too soon to judge Croesus happiest because his life is

12

not yet over and can not be reviewed in its entirety. A rich king, seemingly blessed with happiness now,
may at any time in the future meet with disasters, just like any other ordinary mortal.
Croesus considered Solon a fool, but NEMESIS ("Retribution") punished him for his hubris in thinking
that he was the happiest of mortals.
Croesus and his Son Atys. Croesus had a fine son named ATYS [a'tis], "the doomed one," in whom he
placed all his hopes. A dream came to Croesus as he slept and foretold that Atys would die, struck by the
point of an iron weapon. Croesus forbade his son to engage in any further military activity, removed all
weapons from the men's quarters, and arranged that his son should get a wife. In the midst of preparations
for the marriage, an unfortunate suppliant, polluted by blood, arrived and begged Croesus for purification.
His name was ADRASTUS [a-dras'tus], or ADRASTOS ("the one who cannot escape fate"), a Phrygian
from a royal family; he had killed his brother unintentionally and had been driven out by his father. Croesus
benevolently purified Adrastus and accepted him in his palace.
The Mysian Boar Hunt. It happened that the neighboring Mysians were unable to overcome a monstrous
boar that was destroying their lands. They appealed to Croesus that he send his son with an expedition to
come to their aid. Croesus, remembering the dream, refused. But his valiant son, anxious to help the
Mysians, convinced his father to allow him to go. Atys argued that the fight was not against men but a boar;
since a boar did not have hands or an iron weapon, how could he possibly die by the point of an iron
weapon, if he went on the hunt?
Croesus was won over but, nevertheless, was still concerned about his son's safety. So he asked Adrastus
that, in return for the great kindness that he had done him, he go along with Atys to act as his gaurdian.
Adrastus, although reluctant, could not refuse Croesus' request.
In the midst of the hunt, as the attackers hurled their weapons against the wild beast, Adrastus missed his
aim and hit instead Atys, and killed him. And the prophecy of the dream was fulfilled.
The Suicide of Adrastus. When the expedition arrived home, Adrastus stood before the corpse and begged
Croesus to kill him. But the bereaved Croesus answered that it was the god who had warned him of this evil
who was responsible. He forgave Adrastus. Yet Adrastus could not forgive himself. Alone at the grave of
Croesus' son, Atys, whom he had murdered, he slaughtered himself on the tomb, realizing that he was the
unhappiest of mortals, most oppressed by misfortune. In the final scene of this tragedy, we cannot help
but contrast the unfortunate and most unhappy Adrastus with Tellus and Cleobis and Biton, the happiest of
men who ended their lives well.
The Defeat of Croesus by Cyrus the Great. CYRUS [sye'rus], or KYROS THE GREAT, king of the
Persians, had been carving out a vast empire to the east. Now, however, he threatened Croesus' kingdom of
Lydia to the west. Croesus sent magnificant offerings to Delphi before consulting the great oracle of Apollo
there for advice. The ambiguous answer given by the god was that if he marched against Persia, a great
empire would fall. Croesus foolishly did march against Cyrus, but it was his own Lydian empire, not that of
the Persians, which fell.
The Enlightenment and Salvation of Croesus. When Sardis, the capital of Lydia, was captured, Cyrus
had a great pyre built and Croesus placed upon it. As Croesus stood on the pyre, about to be burned alive,
he now understood that the words of Solon about the nature of happiness for mortals were inspired by god.
Croesus called out the name of Solon three times, and Cyrus, who heard him, was perplexed, and Croesus
explained the truth expounded to him by Solon: No one can by judged happy until dead. After the fire was
lit and the flames began to burn the outer edges of the pyre, Cyrus, fearing retribution for himself, ordered
the fire quenched and Croesus saved. When Croesus realized Cyrus' change of heart, and saw that the men
were unable to put out the fire, in tears he called to Apollo. The god answered him by sending out of the
clear and calm sky, torrents of rain that extinguished the fire.

13

Cyrus knew then that Croesus was a good man, beloved by god and made him his wise and benevolent
counseler. Later Croesus inquired at Delphi why Apollo had deceived him by his oracle. Apollo, his savior,
answered that it was Croesus' own fault for misinterpreting the oracle and not enquiring for further
elucidation; Croesus agreed.

CHAPTER 5: POSEIDON AND SEA DEITIES

MAJOR DEITIES OF THE SEA
We have already met some of these many deities of the sea.
POSEIDON [po-seye'don] (NEPTUNE) became established as the mighty god of the seas. His wife was
AMPHITRITE [am-fi-treye'tee].
PONTUS [pon'tus], or PONTOS ("sea"), produced by Gaia in the first stages of creation.
OCEANUS [o-see'an-us], or OKEANOS, the stream of Ocean, and his mate Tethys, titans who produced
thousands of children, the Oceanids [oh-see'a-nidz].
TRITON [treye'ton], son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, a merman, human above the waist, fish-shaped below
(many male deities of the deep are often so depicted). His most distinguishing characteristic was that he
blew on a conch shell and thus he was known as the trumpeter of the sea.
PROTEUS [proh'te-us], a pre-Olympian deity who became an attendant or son of Poseidon and Amphitrite,
was an old man of the sea who could foretell the future and could also change his shape at will.
NEREUS [nee're-us] was another old man of the sea and, like Proteus, could foretell the future and change
his shape. He was a son of Pontus and Gaia. Nereus mated with one of the Oceanids (Doris) and became
the father of fifty daughters called NEREIDS [nee're-idz]; three of these are important: THETIS [thee'tis],
GALATEA [gal-a-tee'a], and AMPHITRITE [am-fi-treye'tee]. Nereids are beautiful and often, but not
always, depicted as mermaids; and usually they can shange their shape.
PELEUS AND THETIS
Zeus learned from Prometheus the secret that Thetis was destined to bear a son mightier than his father, and
so he avoided her. Instead, a mortal named Peleus wooed and won her, not without difficulty, because she
changed herself into all sorts of things, a bird, a tree, and a tigress. The wedding of Peleus and Thetis was
one of the most famous in mythology and their son Achilles (the hero of the Trojan war) did become
mightier than his father.
ACIS, GALATEA, AND POLYPHEMUS
The second Nereid, Galatea, fell in love with ACIS [ay'sis], the handsome son of a sea-nymph, who was
daughter of the river-god Symaethus, in Siciliy. To her dismay, she was wooed by the Cyclops
POLYPHEMUS [po-li-fee'mus], or POLYPHEMOS, son of Poseidon. This monstrous and boorish giant,
with one eye in the middle of his forehead, tried to mend his savage ways but to no avail. Galatea would
listen to his love songs, cowering in the arms of her lover Acis. Enraged with jealousy, Polyphemus finally
turned on the two lovers. He pursued Acis and hurled a jagged mass, torn from the mountain, which buried
him completely. But with the help of his beloved goddess of the waters, Galatea, Acis was transformed into
a river-deity, fulfilling his ancestry.

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POSEIDON AND AMPHITRITE

The third Nereid, Amphitrite, became the wife of Poseidon, and herein lies her importance.
Poseidon himself looks very much like his brother Zeus, a majestic and bearded king, only more severe
and harsh. He can be identified by his trident, a long, three-pronged fork resembling a fisherman's spear.
Poseidon has many moods, just like the sea that he controls. He is often ferocious and relentless in his
hostility, as in the case of his devastating anger against Odysseus for the blinding of his son, the Cyclops
Polyphemus.
Poseidon, as the earthshaker, was a god of earthquakes as well as of storms. His virility and power are
symbolized by his association with horses and bulls.
SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS
Poseidon made advances to SCYLLA [sil'la], or SKYLLA (a granddaughter of Pontus). Amphitrite was
jealous and threw magic herbs into Scylla's bathing place, which turned her into a vicious monster,
encircled with a ring of dog's heads. She lived in a cave in the stormy Straits of Messina between Sicily and
Italy. With her was CHARYBDIS (ka-rib'dis], daughter of Poseidon and Gaia, an equally formidable ally,
who drew in mountains of water and spewed them out again. Scylla and Charybdis were a menace to
heroes such as Odysseus.
Another version of this myth has become famous because it is told by Ovid. A mortal GLAUCUS
[Glaw'kus], or GLAUKOS, was transformed into a sea-god. He became enamored of Scylla, who rejected
him. He turned for help to the sorceress Circe, but she fell in love with him and through jealousy poisoned
the waters of Scylla's bathing place.
IRIS
Many were the progeny of the sea; some of them we shall meet later in saga, for example the Graeae,
Gorgons, and the Harpies. Progeny of the sea often appear grotesque or fantastic. At this point, however,
we single out only IRIS [eye'ris], a beautiful descendant of Pontus and Gaia. Iris, fleet-footed and winged,
is the lovely goddess of the rainbow, the meaning of her name. She is also (like Hermes) a messenger of the
gods, only Iris often becomes the particular servant of Hera.

15

CHAPTER 6: ATHENA
THE BIRTH OF ATHENA
Zeus swallowed his consort METIS [mee'tis], "wisdom," after he had made her pregnant, because he feared
that she would bear a son who would overthrow him. And so ATHENA [a-thee'na], or ATHENE
(MINERVA), was born from the holy head of Zeus. Hephaestus, with his ax, may have facilitated the birth.
The occasion was awesome as Athena sprang forth fully grown, a beautiful young woman in full armor,
fearlessly announcing her arrival with a thunderous war-cry.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ATHENA
Athena's birth allegorically proclaims her essential character: her divine wisdom drawn from the head of
god; the special bond of affection between father and daughter; her championship of heroes and male
causes, born as she was from the male, and not from a mother's womb. A dread goddess of war, she
remained a virgin.
APPEARANCE OF ATHENA
Athena bears an aloof kind of loveliness, akin to the beauty of youthful masculinity. She is associated with
the owl and the snake. She is usually represented with helmet, spear, and shield or aegis that bore a
depiction of the head of Medusa. With her there may be a female winged figure (called NIKE [nee'kay],
"victory"), bearing a crown or garland of success. Athena herself as victorious war goddess was called
Athena Nike and the simple but elegant temple of Athena Nike stands to the right of the entrance to the
Acropolis.
THE CONTEST BETWEEN ATHENA AND POSEIDON
Athena and Poseidon vied for control of Athens and its surrounding territory, Attica. The contest took place
on the Acropolis. Poseidon struck the rock with his trident and produced a salt spring or a horse. Athena
brought forth an olive tree from the ground by the touch of her spear and she was proclaimed the victor.
The olive was fundamental to Athenian economy and life.
Angry at losing, Poseidon was appeased and continued to be worshipped in Athens, especially in
conjunction with the Athenian hero ERECHTHEUS [e-rek-thee'us] (see M/L, Chapter 21). In his lovely
temple the ERECHTHEUM [e-rek-thee'um], or ERECHTHEION, on the Acropolis, just across from the
Parthenon, the marks of the blow of his trident supposedly could be seen, and nearby it, the olive tree that
Athena had produced continued to grow.
THE PANATHENAEA OR PANATHENAIC FESTIVAL
The PANATHENAEA [pan-ath-e-nee'a], or PANATHENAIA, was an annual festival celebrating the
birthday of Athena; every fourth year the celebration of the Great Panathenaea was especially splendid.
Important in the ceremonies were sacrifices and games; the prizes for winners in the games were special
Panathenaic amphoras -- vases inscribed and decorated with a depiction of Athena and containing sacred
olive oil. A Panathenaic procession wound its way through the city ending with the presentation of an
embroidered robe (peplos) to Athena on the Acropolis. Athenians (young and old, male and female)

16

carrying sacred implements, leading sacrificial animals, with chariots or on horseback, figured in the
procession.

THE PARTHENON AND ITS SCULPTURE

The PARTHENON [par'the-non] is the great temple to Athena Parthenos on the Acropolis of Athens that
was built in the fifth century B.C. PARTHENOS [par'the-nos], an adjective meaning "virgin," was a
standard epithet of Athena. It is a most beautiful Doric temple (even in its ruined state today), and its
sculpture (created under the aegis of the great Athenian sculptor Pheidias) bears tribute to Athena herself
and her city and all that they mean forever.

East pediment - the dramatic moment of the birth of Athena, who stood in the center before the
throne of Zeus, from whose head she had just spring, fully grown and fully armed. Other divine
figures are present at the miracle. At the corners, the horses of Helius (the Sun) and those of
Selene (the Moon) set the momentous event in cosmic time.
West pediment - the contest between Athena and Poseidon, described above; these two central
figures pull away from each other as they produce the gifts with which they vie. On either side
figures of Athenian divinities and heroic kings are witnesses.
Doric frieze - on the exterior are metopes (relief sculpture) depicting four subjects: the battle
between the Lapiths and Centaurs; the sack of Troy; the Gigantomachy; and the battle between the
Greeks and the Amazons.
Ionic frieze - in the interior, on the outer wall of the naos (or cella), continuous relief sculpture
renders the splendid Panathenaic procession described above. Athenian men and women are
shown as marshals, attendants, horsemen, hoplites and assistants in the worship, along with the
animals of ritual sacrifice. At the climax the ceremonial robe is presented to a priestess of Athena
while, on either side, enthroned Olympian deities witness the joyous celebration of civic piety.
The Athena Parthenos - this monumental statue of Athena stood in the cella (or naos). The surfaces
of the standing goddess were made of gold and ivory and she held a figure of Nike (Victory) in her
right hand; she wore a helmet and the aegis with the head of Medusa, and a spear and shield are at
her side; elaborate decorative reliefs enhanced the statue, which has not survived.

PALLAS ATHENA TRITOGENEIA

Athena is often called Pallas Athena and sometimes she is given the obscure title TRITOGENEIA [tri-to-jeneye'a or tri-to-je-nee'a], which suggests her links with Triton, a river-god. Triton had a daughter named
PALLAS [pal'las] who used to practice the arts of war with Athena. As the result of a quarrel, Athena
impulsively wounded Pallas. When Pallas died, Athena was distraught when she fully realized what she had
done. In her sorrow, she made a wooden statue of the girl which was called the PALLADIUM [pal-lay'dium], or PALLADION. Through the agency of Zeus this Palladium fell into the territory of the Trojans,
where, as a talisman, it carried with it the destiny of their city. The word Pallas probably means "maiden"
and designates Athena's virginity like the epithet parthenos, "virgin."
THE INVENTION OF THE FLUTE; ATHENA AND MARSYAS
Athena invented the flute after she heard the lamentations and the sound of the hissing of the serpent hair of
the surviving Gorgons, after Perseus had killed their sister Medusa (see M/L, Chapter 19). She quickly
grew to dislike her invention because her beautiful cheeks became distorted when she blew into the
instrument and so she threw it away. The satyr MARSYAS [mar'si-as] picked up the flute and became so

17

excellent a player that he dared to compete with Apollo in a musical contest, with dire consequences for
himself (see M/L, Chapter 9).
ATHENA AND ARACHNE
ARACHNE [a-rak'nee] was born in a lowly family, but her skill in spinning and weaving was
extraordinary. When Athena (or Minerva in Ovid's account) learned that Arachne's fame as a worker of
wool rivalled her own, she was determined to destroy her. Arachne was foolish enough not to admit that
Athena was her teacher and challenged her to a contest. Disguised as an old woman, Athena warned
Archane about the danger of her hubris but Arachne persisted. Athena in anger threw off her disguise and
accepted the challenge. She wove at her loom, with surpassing skill, a tapestry depicting noble scenes from
mythology. Arrogant Arachne, on the other hand, wove into her tapestry scenes of the gods' less honorable
amorous conquests. Athena was furious, particularly since she could find no fault with Arachne's excellent
work. She tore up the embroidered tapestry and beat Arachne's face with the shuttle. Grief-stricken,
Arachne strangled herself with a noose, but Athena took pity and transformed her into a spider; as such, she
and her descendants practice the art of weaving forever.

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CHAPTER 7: APHRODITE AND EROS

THE DUALITY OF APHRODITE (VENUS)
Aphrodite Urania. We know that Aphrodite arose amidst the foam (aphros) from the severed genitals of
Uranus that were cast upon the sea. Hesiod's account of her birth allegorizes the powerful sexuality of her
nature. Yet this APHRODITE URANIA [a-froh-deye'tee you-ray'ne-a], born from the male alone and not as
the result of sexual union, came to be characterized as the goddess of pure love that has as its end not
physical satisfaction but spiritual gratification. The sensual Aphrodite Urania, sprung from Uranus, god of
the heavens, became the HEAVENLY, or CELESTIAL, APHRODITE of philosophy and religion.
Aphrodite Pandemos. In stark contrast to celestial Aphrodite, another Aphrodite was identified, the
daughter of Zeus and his mate DIONE [deye-oh'nee], about whom we know little. Their daughter was
APHRODITE PANDEMOS [pan-dee'mos], "Aphrodite of the People" or "Common Aphrodite," the
goddess of sex and the procreation of children, whose concerns are of the body and not of the mind, the
spirit, or the soul.

This duality in Aphrodite's nature came to be described as sacred and profane love, the most
universal of all archetypal conceptions.
Aphrodite received two epithets in connection with her birth on the sea, CYTHEREA [si-the-ree'a]
and CYPRIS [si'pris or seye'pris], since she was brought first to the island of Cythera and then
Cyprus, the latter especially associated with her worship.

THE CHARACTER OF APHRODITE

In general, Aphrodite was the captivating goddess of beauty, love, and marriage and her power was very
great. Her universality led to a gamut of conceptions of this goddess, who presided over everything from
hallowed married love to temple prostitution. Depictions of her in art, literature, and music reflect not only
the duality but also the multiplicity of her nature.
ATTENDANTS OF APHRODITE
The Three Graces. The CHARITES [kar'i-teez] are feminine personifications of charm and loveliness.
The Hours or Seasons. The name of these daughters of Zeus and Themis is HORAE [hoh'ree], or HORAI,
meaning hours, and then time, and then seasons. Their number increases from two to four, and they
represent the attractive attributes of the various times of the year.
THE ITHYPHALLIC PRIAPUS
PRIAPUS [preye-ay'-pus], or PRIAPOS, the son of Aphrodite, personifies the elemental, sexual side of his
mother's nature. He bears a huge and erect phallus and began as a respectable fertility god bringing good
fortune for crops and procreation. He developed into an erotic and sometimes obscene inspiration for later
art and literature.

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PYGMALION
Ovid's story of PYGMALION [pig-may'li-on] is most influential. Venus, enraged because the women of
her own cult-place of Cyprus denied her divinity, caused them to be the first women to prostitute
themselves. The sculptor Pygmalion would have nothing to do with these licentious women. In his
loneliness, he fashioned an ivory statue of surpassing beauty, so realistic that he fell in love with his
creation and treated it as though it were alive.
On the feast day of Venus, Pygmalion timidly prayed to Venus that his ivory maiden would become his
wife. He returned home to find that his lovely statue was alive. He gave thanks to Venus, who was present
at the marriage of the happy couple. The son of Pygmalion and GALATEA [ga-la-tee'a] (her name is not in
Ovid) was PAPHOS [pa'fos], after whom Venus' favorite city in Cyprus was named.
APHRODITE AND ADONIS
The classic version of this myth is by Ovid. KINYRAS [sin'i-ras], or KINYRAS (the son of Paphos), had a
daughter named MYRRHA [mir'ra], who fell in love with her father. The faithful nurse of guilty Myrrha
prevented her from committing suicide by convincing her to satisfy her passion. So Myrrha carried on an
incestuous relationship with her father, who was unaware of her identity. When Cinyras found out, he
pursued his daughter, who fled from his rage. In answer to her prayers, Myrrha was turned into a myrrh
tree. She had become pregnant by her father and from the tree was born ADONIS [a-don'is], who became a
most handsome youth and keen hunter.
Aphrodite fell desperately in love with Adonis and warned him of the dangers of the hunt, but to no
avail. While he was hunting a wild boar, it buried its deep tusk into his groin and Adonis died in the arms of
a grief-stricken Aphrodite. The goddess ordained that from his blood a flower, the anemone, should arise.
Here is allegorized the important recurrent theme of the Great Mother and her lover, who dies as vegetation
dies and comes back to life again.
This motif of death and resurrection becomes even clearer in the following variation. When Adonis was
an infant, Aphrodite put him in a chest for PERSEPHONE [per-sef'o-nee] (PROSERPINA), the queen of
the Underworld, to keep. But Persephone looked upon the child's beauty and refused to give him back. It
was agreed that Adonis would spend one part of the year below with Persephone and one part in the upper
world with Aphrodite. Celebrations honoring the dead and risen Adonis share similarities with Easter
celebrations for the dead and risen Christ.
CYBELE AND ATTIS
The myth of the great Asiatic mother goddess called CYBELE [si'be-lee and si-bee'lee], or KYBELE, in the
Greek and Roman world, and her consort, ATTIS [at'tis], is another variation on the archetype of the Great
Mother and her lover. Cybele originally was a bi-sexual deity who was castrated. From the severed organ
an almond tree arose. Nana, daughter of a river god, put a blossom from the tree to her bosom; it
disappeared and she became pregnant. The beautiful Attis was born, and when he grew up, Cybele fell
passionately in love with him. But he loved another, and Cybele, because of her jealousy, drove him mad.
In his madness Attis castrated himself, and a repentant Cybele obtained Zeus' promise that the body of Attis
would never decay.
Religious ceremonies in honor of Attis celebrated resurrection and new life through the castration and
death of the subordinate male in the grip of the eternal, dominant female. This is the powerful theme of
Catullus' great poem, translated in the Archives section of this web site.
APHRODITE AND ANCHISES

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The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite tells how Zeus put into the heart of Aphrodite an overwhelming desire
for the mortal Trojan ANCHISES [an-keye'seez].
Using all her wiles, Aphrodite seduced Anchises by tricking him into believing that she was a mortal.
Discovering that he had slept with a goddess, he was terribly afraid that he would be enfeebled, "for no
man retains his full strength who sleeps with an immortal goddess." Here is yet again the eternal theme of
the Great Mother and the castration of her lover, only in a more muted form. The son of Aphrodite and
Anchises was AENEAS [e-nee'as], the great hero of the Romans.
EROS
As with Aphrodite there are various facets to the character of EROS [e'ros] (CUPID). He came out of
Chaos, and he attended Aphrodite after she was born from the sea-foam. He (or a different Eros?) was said
to be the son of Aphrodite and Ares. Eros was a young, handsome god of love and desire in general, but by
the fifth century B.C. he had become very much the god of male homosexuality.
THE SYMPOSIUM OF PLATO
Plato's dialogue presents a profound analysis of love, the topic of this famous dinner-party. Two of the
speeches are particularly illuminating.
The Speech of Aristophanes. Since this speech is by the famous writer of Greek Old Comedy, not
surprisingly, it is both amusing and wise. Aristophanes explains that originally there were not just two sexes
but a third, an androgynous sex, both male and female. These creatures (all three sexes) were round in
shape with four hands and feet, one head with two faces exactly alike but each looking in opposite
directions, a double set of genitals, and so on. They were very strong and they dared to attack the gods.
Zeus, in order to weaken them, decided to cut them in two. So all those who were originally of the
androgynous sex became heterosexual beings, men who love women, and women who love men. Those of
the female sex who were cut in half became lesbians and pursued women; those bisected from the male
became male homosexuals who pursue males. Thus, like our ancestors, according to our own nature, we
pursue our other half in a longing to become whole once again. Eros is the yearning desire of lover and
beloved to become one person not only in life but also in death.
Aristophanes by his creative humor has given a serious explanation through mythic truth of why some
persons are heterosexual while others are homosexual; he also articulates a compelling definition of love,
reiterated throughout the ages: Eros inspires that lonely and passionate search for the one person who alone
can satisfy our longing for wholeness and completion.
The Speech of Socrates. The great philosopher Socrates elucidates Platonic revelation about Eros. Socrates
claims that his wisdom in the nature of love came from a woman from Mantinea named DIOTIMA [deyeo-tee'ma]. A new myth is told about the birth of Eros to explain his character. He is squalid and poor, not
beautiful himself, but a lover of beauty and very resourceful, forever scheming and plotting to obtain what
he desires passionately but does not himself already possess - beauty, goodness, and wisdom. This is the
Eros who must inspire each of us to move from our love of physical beauty in the individual to a love of
beauty in general, and to realize that beauty of the soul is more precious than that of the body. When two
people have fallen in love with the beautiful soul of each other, they should proceed upward to pursue
together a love of wisdom.
Platonic Eros is a love inspired in the beginning by the sexual attraction of physical beauty, which must
be transmuted into a love of the beautiful pursuits of the mind and the soul. Although Socrates' discourse
dwells upon male homosexual attachments as his paradigm, his message transcends sexuality. Platonic
lovers of both sexes, driven by Eros, must be capable of making the goal of their love not sexual

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satisfaction at all nor the procreation of children, but spiritual gratification from the procreation of ideas in
their intellectual quest for beauty, goodness, and wisdom.
CUPID
The Greek Eros develops into the Roman Cupid, still a very familiar deity today. This mischievous little
darling with a bow and arrows, who attends Venus, can inspire love of every kind, often very serious or
even deadly, but usually not intellectual.
CUPID AND PSYCHE
The canonical version of this famous tale comes from the Roman novel, Metamorphoses or The Golden
Ass by the African author Apuleius. Thus Eros is called Cupid, who appears as a handsome, winged youth.
PSYCHE [seye'kee] means "soul," and here is an allegory of the union of the human soul with the divine.
Once upon a time, a king and queen had three daughters, of whom Psyche was so beautiful that Venus
was jealous. She ordered Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with the most vile of creatures, but instead
Cupid himself fell in love with Psyche. She was transported to a magnificent palace, where each night
Cupid, as an anonymous bridegroom, visited her and departed quickly before sunrise.
Psyche's two sisters, who were very jealous, visited her. Cupid warned of their treacherous purpose to
persuade Psyche to look upon his face. He told her that she was pregnant and that she must keep their
secret. Nevertheless, Psyche was tricked by her sisters into believing that she was sleeping with a monster
and, at their advice, she hid a sharp knife and a burning lamp with the intention of slashing her lover in the
neck when he was asleep.
In the night her husband made love to Psyche and then fell asleep. As she raised the lamp, knife in hand,
she saw the gentle and beautiful Cupid. Overcome by desire, she kissed him so passionately that the lamp
dropped oil on the god's shoulder. Cupid leaped out of bed, and as he flew away, Psyche caught hold of his
leg and soared aloft with him. Her strength gave way and she fell to earth, only to be admonished by Cupid
for ignoring his warnings. In her despair, Psyche attempted unsuccessfully to commit suicide. As she
wandered disconsolate she encoutered her two evil sisters and lured each to her death.
When Venus learned from Cupid all that had happened, she was enraged and imposed upon Psyche four
impossible tasks.
First, Psyche had to sort out a vast heap of a mixed variety of grains. She did this successfully with the
help of an army of ants.
Next, Psyche had to obtain the wool from dangerous sheep with thick golden fleeces. A murmuring reed
told her to shake the trees under which the sheep had passed to gather the wooly gold clinging to the
branches.
Then, Psyche was ordered to climb to the top of a high mountain, face the terrors of a frightening dragon,
and collect in a jar chill water from a stream that fed the Underworld river of Cocytus. This she
accomplished with the help of Zeus' eagle.
Finally, Venus imposed the ultimate task, descent into the Underworld itself. Psyche was commanded to
obtain from Persephone a box containing a fragment of her own beauty. As Psyche, in despair, was about to
leap to her death from a high tower, the tower spoke to her and told her to take sops to mollify Cerberus,
the dread hound guarding the realm of Hades, and money to pay the ferryman Charon; most important of
all, she was not to look into the box. Of course Psyche looked into the box, which contained not the beauty

22

of Persephone but the sleep of the dark night of the Underworld, and she was enveloped by this death-like
sleep.
At last Cupid flew to the rescue of his beloved. He put sleep back into the box and, after reminding her
that curiousity once before had been her undoing, told her to complete her final task. In the end, Venus was
appeased. Psyche became one of the immortals, and on Mount Olympus Jupiter ratified the marriage of
Cupid and Psyche with a glorious wedding. A daughter was born to them called Pleasure (Voluptas) and
they lived happily ever after.

CHAPTER 8: ARTEMIS
THE BIRTH AND NATURE OF ARTEMIS
Zeus mated with the goddess LETO [lee'toh] (LATONA) and she bore ARTEMIS [ar'te-mis] (DIANA) and
APOLLO [a-pol'loh] on the island of Delos. In some accounts, Artemis was born first and helped in the
delivery of her brother. Thus she revealed at once her powers as a goddess of childbirth, which she shares
with Hera and Eileithyia.
The birth of the twin deities Artemis and Apollo links them closely together from the very beginning.
Lovely Artemis will on occasion join her handsome brother in supervising the dances of the Muses and the
Graces and they both delight in the bow and arrow.
NIOBE AND HER CHILDREN
The skill in archery of Apollo and Artemis is exemplified by their defense of the insulted honor of their
mother Leto. The women of Thebes greatly honored Leto and her two children. Their tributes seemed
excessive to NIOBE [neye'o-bee], who boasted that she was better than Leto because she was not only rich,
beautiful, and the queen of Thebes, but had borne seven sons and seven daughters, whereas Leto was the
mother of only one son and one daughter. Leto complained to her children about Niobe's hubris and they
exacted a swift vengeance. With unerring arrows, Apollo killed all seven sons of Leto, and Artemis all
seven daughters. As Artemis was about to shoot the youngest, Niobe attempted to shield the girl and begged
that this last one be spared, to no avail. Niobe herself was turned to stone and brought by a whirlwind to a
mountain-top in her former homeland, Phrygia. There, tears trickling down wear away her face.
ACTAEON
ACTAEON [ak-tee'on], or AKTAION, was an ardent hunter. Once when he wandered off alone, away from
his companions, he stumbled upon, by accident or fate, a woodland cave with a pool of water, where
Artemis (or Diana, in Ovid's version of the tale) was bathing accompanied by her attendant followers, as
was their custom. When they saw Actaeon entering the cave, they screamed and Diana, outraged that a man
had seen her naked, took swift revenge. She splashed water in his face and immediately horns began to
grow from his head and he was transformed into a stag, completely except for his mind. He ran away in
fear and was sighted by his own hunting dogs who turned on him and tore him to pieces.
CALLISTO AND ARCAS
CALLISTO [kal-lis'toh], or KALLISTO, "most beautiful," was a chaste huntress, just like the goddess
Artemis whom she followed so devotedly. Zeus (or Jupiter, as Ovid tells it) no sooner saw Callisto than he
fell in love with her and was determined to win her. He disguised himself as Artemis, knowing full well that
in this transformation he could best win her confidence and affection. When Zeus pressed his attentions too
ardently, his deception became only too clear to poor Callisto, who struggled in vain. Callisto rejoined
Artemis and her companions but eventually, when they bathed together, she could not disguise the fact that

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she was pregnant. Artemis was furious with Callisto for her betrayal and expelled her from the sacred
group.
Hera (or Juno) had long been aware of her husband's guilt, and when Callisto gave birth to a son, named
ARCAS [ar'kas], or ARKAS, she took her revenge. She turned Callisto into a bear but her mind remained
intact; thus alone and afraid, she wandered the forests.
Arcas grew up and, in his fifteenth year, while hunting he encountered his mother Callisto, a bear whose
human and relentless gaze frightened him. As he was about to drive a spear through her body, Zeus
intervened and prevented the matricide. He brought them both up to the heavens where he transformed
them into constellations.
Callisto became the Great bear (Ursa Major); Arcas perhaps became the Little Bear (Ursa Minor) or the
Bear Warden (Arctophylax, or Arcturus, or Botes).
ORION
Another constellation myth linked to Artemis concerns the hunter ORION [oh-reye'on], whose story has
many variations. He wooed Merope, the daughter of Oenopion ("wine-face"), king of the island of Chios,
famous for its wines. While clearing the island of wild beasts, he encountered Artemis and tried to rape her.
Enraged, the goddess produced a scorpion out of the earth that stung Orion to death. Both are seen in the
sky. Others say Orion pursued the PLEIADES [plee'a-deez] (daughters of the titan Atlas and Pleione, an
Oceanid), and they were all transformed into constellations, with SIRIUS [sir'ee-us], Orion's hunting dog,
who became the Dog Star.
ARTEMIS, SELENE, AND HECATE
Artemis became predominantly a vehement virgin as the stories above make terrifyingly clear. Yet she also
possesses characteristics that suggest the fertility goddess, e.g., her interest in childbirth and the young of
both humans and animals. Also at Ephesus, a statue depicts her with what seem like multiple breasts. As a
moon-goddess she was worshipped by women who linked her with the lunar cycle and their menstrual
period. Nevertheless, above all, Artemis is the virgin huntress, the goddess of nature itself, not concerned
with its teeming procreation (like Aphrodite) but with its pristine purity. Artemis, like the moon, appears as
a symbol, cold, white, aloof, and chaste.
Hecate's Suppers. As a moon-goddess, Artemis is linked with SELENE [se-lee'nee], another earlier goddess
of the moon (see M/L, Chapter 1). She is also linked with her cousin HECATE [hek'a-tee], or HEKATE, a
fertility goddess of the Underworld who is depicted like a Fury (see M/L, Chapters 12 and 13) with a
scourge and blazing torch, and accompanied by fierce hounds. In particular she is a goddess of the
crossroads, a place thought to be the center of ghostly activity in the dead of night. Skilled in the arts of
black magic, Hecate is invoked by sorceresses and murderers (e.g. Medea and Lady Macbeth). Offerings of
food were made to her (called Hecate's suppers) at triple-faced statues, erected at crossroads and depicting
three.htmlects of the moon: Selene in heaven, Artemis on earth, and Hecate in the Underworld.
EURIPIDES' HIPPOLYTUS
HIPPOLYTUS [hip-pol'i-tus], or HIPPOLYTOS, is the son of Theseus by the Amazon HIPPOLYTA [hippol'i-ta], or ANTIOPE [an-teye'o-pee]. Theseus married Phaedra, the daughter of Minos, and Hippolytus
grew up to be a young man troubled by his illegitimacy and obsessed with maintaining his virginity.
Aphrodite, in a typically Euripidean prologue, describes her great power and her vehement anger against
Hippolytus, a hunter who hubristically rejects love and prefers to follow Artemis. Aphrodite exacts her
revenge by making Phaedra fall desperately in love with her step-son, a passion impossible to fulfill, which
could only lead to tragedy. Phaedra first saw Hippolytus while he was being initiated into the Mysteries and
was smitten by a hopeless lust. For two years Phaedra has suffered and now she lies ill, overcome by her

24

guilty secret and determined to die because she is a noble woman and cannot commit this abominable
adultery, unlike other unfaithful wives who could be false to their husbands under any circumstances. She
desperately desires to preserve her own honor and also that of her sons, Theseus' legitimate heirs. Her
faithful nurse wrests the truth from her and the solution that she takes upon herself determines the tragic
outcome.
The nurse has Hippolytus swear an oath of secrecy, but when she tells him of Phaedra's passion, he is
enraged and cries out that his tongue swore but not his mind. Phaedra overhears the angry exchange and
fears Hippolytus will tell all to her ruin (but he never does violate his oath). She hangs herself, but before
doing so leaves an incriminating note to save herself and her children by claiming that Hippolytus violated
her. Theseus too quickly believes her accusation against the protests of his innocent son, whose purity and
religious fanaticism he had always resented. With a curse given him by his father, Poseidon, he orders his
son into exile. Poseidon sends a bull from the sea which frightens the horses of Hippolytus' chariot, and he
is entangled in the wreckage. As he is dying, he is brought back to his father for a heartbreaking
reconciliation, engineered by the deus ex machina Artemis, who explains to Theseus the truth and promises
Hippolytus honors after his death for his devotion and that she will get even with Aphrodite.
(In one version of Adonis' death, Artemis causes the boar to kill him.)

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CHAPTER 9: APOLLO
THE BIRTH OF APOLLO
Zeus mated with LETO [lee'toh] (LATONA), who conceived the twin gods ARTEMIS [ar'te-mis] (DIANA)
and APOLLO [a-pol'loh]. The lengthy Hymn to Apollo tells in its first part ("To Delian Apollo") of Apollo's
birth; no mention is made of Artemis.
Leto roamed far and wide in her search for a refuge where she might give birth, but the many places she
approached were afraid to receive her. Finally the island of Delos accepted her, but only after she assured
the island (which is personified in the Hymn) with a great oath that a sacred precinct of Apollo would be
built there and that it would become a place of prosperity, wealth, and prestige.
When Leto had endured nine days and nights of labor, Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, was
summoned by Iris from Olympus to help in the delivery. Goddesses present at the birth attended to the
newborn child, and as soon as Apollo had been nursed on nectar and ambrosia, he miraculously became a
mighty god who declared that the curved bow and the lyre were his and that he would prophecy to mortals
the unerring will of Zeus. Leto was delighted with her son and all of Delos blossomed with joy.
In the conclusion of this part of the Hymn, the poet (sometimes erroneously believed to be Homer)
describes the great festival of Apollo at Delos with its famous chorus of maidens who can sing in all
dialects and identifies himself as a blind man from Chios, "whose songs are the best forevermore." Bards,
who are archetypally blind, see the Muses' truth.
THE SANCTUARY OF APOLLO AT DELPHI
The second part of the Homeric Hymn to Apollo ("To Pythian Apollo") tells how Apollo travelled in
Greece until he found the proper place for the foundation of his oracle, Crisa, under Mt. PARNASSUS
[par-nas'sus], or PARNASSOS, where he laid out his temple. Then he slew a dragon named PYTHO
[peye'thoh], or PYTHON, and thus the site was called Pytho, Apollo given the epithet PYTHIAN [pith'eean], and a prophetess of Apollo received the name of PYTHIA [pith'ee-a]. Originally at this site there had
probably been an oracle of the great mother-goddess Gaia, and the slaying of the dragon may symbolize
conquest by the Hellenes and their god Apollo, who thus becomes yet another to add to our list of dragonslayers.
The OMPHALOS [om'fa-los], "navel," an archaic stone shaped like an egg with two birds perched on
either side, was thought to designate the location of the sanctuary at the center of the world. According to
legend, Zeus released two eagles from opposite ends of the earth and they met exactly at the spot of
Apollo's sanctuary, which came to be known universally by the name of DELPHI [del'feye], or DELPHOI,
for the following reason.
After Apollo had established his sanctuary, he needed to recruit attendants. He spotted a ship sailing from
Crete and he sprang aboard in the form of a dolphin. The crew were awed into submission and followed a
course that led the ship to Crisa. Here Apollo revealed himself as a god and initiated them to his service,

26

with directions to pray to him as Apollo DELPHINIUS [del-fin'ee-us], or DELPHINOS, a word meaning
"dolphin," from which Crisa or Pytho received its new name of Delphi.
THE PANHELLENIC SANCTUARY AT DELPHI
The Panhellenic sanctuary of Apollo is in many ways representative of Panhellenic sites elsewhere, for
example, the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia (see M/L, Chapter 3). Yet the sacred area and the temple built
on the lower slopes of Mt. Parnassus are particulary awe-inspiring, and the many dedications made to the
god remind us of how Greek religion was responsible for the development of great and universal literature,
poetry, drama, sculpture, and architecture. The Pythian games, celebrated every four years, included both
physical and intellectual competitions and the worship of the god.
The Oracle and Pythia at Delphi. The Panhellenic sanctuary at Delphi was the most important oracle in the
Greek world. People in general and representatives of states in particular came from all over the Greek
world and beyond to ask Apollo questions of every sort. The Pythia, the prophetess of Apollo, uttered the
responses of the god as she sat on a tripod. Her answers came in incoherent ravings, which were transcribed
by a nearby priest into intelligible prose or verse. In Plato's Apology we are told that Socrates learned from
the Delphic oracle that he was the wisest of men, a response that this great philosopher took very seriously.
FOUR OF APOLLO'S LOVES
The Cumaean Sibyl. The general designation for a prophetess was SIBYL [sib'il], or SIBYLLA [si-bil'la];
a Sibyl at Delphi, however, was called specifically the Pythia, as we have noted.
The Sibyls at Cumae in Italy were famous. Most famous among them was the CUMAEAN [kou-mee'an]
Sibyl who was Aeneas' guide in the Underworld (see M/L, Chapter 13). We learn about this Sibyl from
Ovid. Apollo offered her anything that she wished, if only she would yield to him. She picked up a heap of
sand and asked for as many birthdays as the individual grains but forgot to ask for continuous youth along
with the years. Nevertheless, Apollo would have given her long life and eternal youth, if she agreed to
succumb to him. When she refused him, the god granted her original wish, and she withered away
eventually to become only a voice. This story of the Cumaean Sibyl once again illustrates how our ignorant
wishes may be granted to our woe (cf. Eos and Tithonus, M/L, Chapter 1).
Cassandra. CASSANDRA [kas-san'dra], daughter of the Trojan King Priam (see M/L, Chapter 17) agreed
to give herself to Apollo, who rewarded her with the gift of prophecy. When Cassandra changed her mind
and rejected his advances, Apollo asked for one kiss and spit in her mouth, thus insuring not only that
Cassandra would keep her gift, but also that her true prophecies would never be believed.
Marpessa. The daughter of Ares' son Evenus, or MARPESSA [mar-pes'sa], was wooed by IDAS [eye'das],
one of the Argonauts, who carried her off in his chariot to the anger and dismay of her father, who
commited suicide. Apollo stole her away from Idas in a similar fashion and the two rivals met face to face.
Zeus ordered that Marpessa chose between her lovers. She chose the mortal Idas because she feared the
immortal Apollo would leave her when she grew old.
Cyrene. Most of Apollo's love affairs end tragically. A notable exception is his success with CYRENE
[seye-ree'nee], or KYRENE, an athletic nymph with whom he fell in love when he saw her wrestling with a
lion. He whisked her away in his golden chariot to the city in Libya that would bear her name. They had a
son Aristaeus, who became a keeper of bees (see M/L, Chapters 5 and 14).
APOLLO AND DAPHNE
The story of Apollo's love for DAPHNE [daf'nee], "laurel," explaining why the laurel was sacred to him, is
one of the most famous and inspiring of all myths because of Ovid's version.

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After Apollo had just slain the Python, he boasted to Cupid that the god of love with his bow and arrows
could not compete with his glorious slaying of a dragon. Cupid got even for this slight by shooting a dull,
leaden arrow that repels love at Daphne, the daughter of the river god Peneus, and piercing Apollo's heart
with a bright, short one that arouses passion.
Daphne was extraordinarily beautiful but refused her many suitors. She vowed to remain a virgin
devoted to Diana, the forests, and the hunt; both her father and Jupiter respected her wishes. As soon as
Apollo saw her he was inflamed by passion and he desired to marry her, but because of Cupid his hopes
were doomed. Daphne fled in fear as Apollo made his appeals and pursued her. Exhausted, she reached the
waters of the Peneus, and her prayer that the power of the river would destroy her too-enticing beauty was
granted. She was transformed into a lovely laurel tree, and the heartbroken Apollo, as he embraced its trunk
and branches, promised that since she could not be his wife, she would be his tree, and from it would come
the laurel wreath, a symbol of love, honor, and glory forever.
APOLLO AND HYACINTHUS
Apollo, as the archetypical Greek god, was also susceptible to the love of young men. He was devoted to
CYPARISSUS [si-pa-ris'sus], or KYPARISSOS, who was turned into a cypress tree, the meaning of his
name (see M/L, Chapter 23). His devotion to HYACINTHUS [heye-a-sin'thus], or HYAKINTHOS, a
handsome Spartan youth, also told by Ovid, is more famous.
The god and the youth enjoyed competing with the discus. Apollo's first throw showed magnificent skill
and great strength, for he sent the discus high up into the clouds. When it eventually came back to earth, an
enthusiastic Hyacinthus dashed to pick it up, but as it hit the earth it bounced back and struck him full in
the face. All of Apollo's medical arts were of no avail and his beloved companion died. Overcome by grief
and guilt, the god vowed everlasting devotion by singing of Hyacinthus to the tune of his lyre and by
causing a new flower, the hyacinth, to arise from his blood. Apollo himself marked his laments on his
petals, the mournful letters AI AI, and predicted the suicide of the valiant Ajax (See M/L, Chapter 17),
whose initals (these same letters) would appear on this same flower which would arise from his heroic
blood. An annual festival, the Hyacinthia, was celebrated at Sparta in honor of Hyacinthus.
APOLLO, CORONIS, AND ASCLEPIUS
In the story of Hyacinthus, we see Apollo acting as a god of medicine, ineffective though he proved to be.
His son Asclepius took over the role of god of medicine and most of the time was more successful than his
father.
Apollo loved a maiden from Thessaly, CORONIS [co-roh'nis], and she was pregnant with his child.
Unfortunately, Apollo's bird the raven saw Coronis in the arms of another lover and told the god, who in a
quick and violent rage shot her with one of his arrows. As she was dying she told him that their unborn
child would die with her. Apollo too late regretted his anger, but to no avail. He was unable through his
medical arts to revive his beloved. He embraced her in anguish and performed the proper burial rites over
her corpse. As the flames of the funeral pyre were about to engulf her, he saved their baby by snatching it
from her womb and giving it to the wise centaur Chiron to raise. The color of the raven, which had been
white, he now changed to black.
The child grew up to become ASCLEPIUS [as-klee'pee-us], or ASKLEPIOS (AESCULAPIUS for the
Romans), a famous practitioner of medicine, worshipped as both a hero and a god. He had several children,
among them the doctor Machaon [ma-kay'on] (in the Iliad) and more shadowy figures such as HYGEIA
[heye-jee'a] or HYGIEIA, "health."
When Hippolytus died (see M/L, Chapter 8), Artemis appealed to Asclepius to bring her devoted
follower back to life. He succeeded and enraged Zeus, who hurled him into the Underworld for such a
disruption of the natural order.

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THE ALCESTIS OF EURIPIDES

Apollo was enraged at the death of his son Asclepius and killed the Cyclopes who had forged the
thunderbolt. For his crime, he was sentenced to live in exile for a year under the rule of ADMETUS [admee'tus], or ADMETOS, king of Pherae in Thessaly. When Apollo found out that his master had only a
short time to live, he induced the Fates (Moirai) to allow the king a longer life. They, however, demanded
that someone else must die in his place. No one (not even his aged parents) was willing to do so except for
his wife, ALCESTIS [al-ses'tis], or ALKESTIS. In the end, Heracles arrived to save Alcestis from death
and return her to her husband (see M/L, Chapter 20).
Euripides' entertaining play Alcestis, however controversial, presents a touching portrait of a loving and
devoted wife. Although Admetus must face the just attacks of critics for allowing Alcestis to die in his
place, a case may be made that he recognized his selfishness too late, after he realized that life was not
worth living without his Alcestis.
APOLLO'S MUSICAL CONTEST WITH MARSYAS
As we know, Apollo was an expert in the playing of the lyre, but two musicians, because of hubris,
foolishly dared to challenge him.
Athena invented the flute (see M/L, Chapter 6) but threw it away because her beautiful features became
distorted when she played. MARSYAS [mar'si-as] the satyr picked it up. Although Athena gave him a
thrashing for taking up her instrument, he became so proficient that he dared to challenge the great Apollo
to a contest. The god imposed the condition that the victor could do what he liked with the vanquished.
Inevitably Apollo won and he decided to flay Marsyas alive. Ovid in his Metamorphoses describes the
agony of the satyr.
The earth drank up all the tears of the woodland spirits and of the gods who wept for him, and from them
a stream was formed in Phrygia bearing the name of Marsyas.
APOLLO'S MUSICAL CONTEST WITH PAN
The second musical contest is also related by Ovid. While Pan was playing a dainty tune on his pipes (see
M/L, Chapter 11) on Mt. Tmolus in Phrygia, he dared to belittle the music of Apollo and engaged in a
contest with the god. TMOLUS [tmo'lus], or TMOLOS, the god of the mountain, was the judge. Pan played
first on his rustic pipes, and then Apollo, in the stance of an artist, crowned with laurel, followed, plucking
his exquisite ivory lyre, inlaid with gems, with a plectrum.
Tmolus declared Apollo the victor, but MIDAS [meye'das], the king of Phrygia (who now had a loathing
for riches, see M/L, Chapter 11) witnessed the contest. He still had not learned wisdom. He had become a
worshipper of Pan and prefered his music and declared the verdict unjust. Apollo could not endure that
such stupid ears retain their shape, and so he changed them into the ears of an ass.
King Midas Has Ass's Ears. Midas hid his shame by wearing a turban. His barber, however, could not help
but find out. He wanted desperately to tell but did not dare reveal Midas' secret. Since he could not keep
quiet, he stole away and dug a hole into the ground and whispered into it that his master had ass's ears. He
filled up the hole again but in a year's time a thick cluster of trembling reeds had grown up, and when the
wind whistled in the reeds, you could hear the murmur of a whisper, revealing the truth: "King Midas has
ass's ears."
Two archetypal motifs are dominant in this story about Midas: the garrulousness of barbers and the
stupidity of some critics.

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THE NATURE OF APOLLO

Apollo is a very complex deity. As a god of shepherds, he was associated with music and was a protector.
He was also god of medicine, and he replaced Hyperion and Helius as a god of the sun. He is often called
PHOEBUS [fee'bus], or PHOIBOS Apollo, an epithet that means "bright." There is a moving, tragic
humanity to many of his stories. Yet he is subject to many moods and passions, not least of all his terrifying
anger, however just.
Yet this same god was worshiped as the epitome of classical restraint -- handsome, strong, and
intelligent, preaching the Greek maxims of "Know thyself" and "Nothing too much." He can bring
enlightenment, atonement, truth, and a new civic order of justice. It is because of the disciplined and
controlled side to his character that Apollo can be pitted against Dionysus to encompass the basic duality of
human nature: the rational (Apollonian) and irrational (Dionysian). See M/L, Chapter 11.

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CHAPTER 10: HERMES

THE HOMERIC HYMN TO HERMES
The charming, amusing, much admired, and lengthy Hymn to Hermes (4) tells the story of his birth and
childhood.
Zeus and Maia. Zeus joined in love with the beautiful nymph MAIA [meye'a] (MAEA) in a luxurious
cave, and she bore the god HERMES [her'meez] (MERCURY). This precocious baby was born at dawn, by
midday he was playing the lyre, and in the evening he stole the cattle of Apollo.
Hermes Invents the Lyre. As soon as Hermes left the cave where he was born he encountered a tortoise
and quickly devised a plan. He seized and cut up the tortoise and used the hollowed tortoise shell, along
with reeds, an ox's hide, and strings of sheep gut to invent the seven-stringed lyre. In no time at all, he
tuned the lyre and was singing beautiful songs in honor of his father and his mother.
Hermes Steals Apollo's Cattle. Very soon Hermes became intent on other pursuits; he craved meat and
devised a scheme for stealing the cattle of Apollo. In the night, he cut off from the herd fifty head and
cleverly made them walk backwards, their heads facing him, while he himself walked straight ahead,
wearing sandals of wicker that he had woven to disguise his tracks. When an old man working in a
luxuriant vineyard noticed Hermes driving the cattle, the infant god told him not to tell, promising him a
good harvest of grapes and much wine.
Hermes Makes Sacrifice. At daybreak Hermes fed the cows well and found a shelter for them. Then he
gathered some wood and was the very first to use dry sticks and by friction kindle a fire. He skinned and
butchered two of the cattle (baby though he was) and divided rich parts of the meat into twelve portions and
roasted them as offerings to the gods. Following the ritual of sacrifice, he, as one of the gods, could not eat
any of the meat but only savor the aroma. After destroying all evidence of what he had done, he returned
home to his mother.
Hermes Reassures Maia. Hermes got into his cradle and acted like a helpless baby; but his mother Maia
was not fooled by his display of helplessness and berated him, for she knew that he had been up to no good.
Hermes answered her with clever words assuring her that he was to be the prince of thieves and that he
would win honor and riches for them both among the Olympian gods.

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Apollo Tracks Down Hermes. Apollo, anxious about the loss of his cattle (which he explains were all
cows), made inquires of the old man tending the vineyard, and the old man told him that he saw a child
driving a herd backwards. The sign of an eagle with extended wings told him that the thief was a son of
Zeus, and when he saw the tracks of the cattle turned backwards and the tracks of the robber cleverly
obscured, the ingenuity of the theft led him to the cave of Maia and Hermes.
Apollo Confronts Hermes. In a rage, Apollo faced Hermes, who sank down into his blankets with a look
of baby-innocence that failed to deceive Apollo. After a search of the surroundings, he urgently questioned
the child about his stolen cattle. Hermes claimed that he did not know a thing; since he was only born
yesterday, it was impossible that he could have committed such a crime. Apollo, however, was not fooled
but knew Hermes for the sly-hearted cheat that he was. Their argument only ended when Apollo brought
Hermes to the top of Mt. Olympus, where he sought justice from Zeus himself.
Zeus Decides the Case. Apollo spoke first and truthfully stated the facts about the theft of his cattle.
Hermes' reply was full of lies, and he even swore a mighty oath that he was absolutely innocent. Zeus gave
a great laugh when he heard the protests and denials of the devious child and ordered Hermes in his role of
guide to lead Apollo to the place where he had hidden the cattle.
The Reconciliation between Hermes and Apollo. Hermes did as Zeus commanded, and when Apollo
found his cattle the two reconciled. Hermes took up the lyre that he had invented and played and sang so
beautifully that Apollo was enthralled and exclaimed that this enchanting skill was worth fifty cows! He
promised that Hermes would become the messenger of the gods and that he and his mother would have
renown among the immortals (and thus Hermes' promise to his mother was fulfilled). At this, Hermes gave
the lyre to Apollo ordaining that he should become a master of the musical art, and Apollo in turn gave
Hermes a shining whip and put him in charge of cattle herds. And so the two returned to Olympus where
Zeus united them in friendship.
Furthermore, Hermes swore to Apollo that he would never again steal any of his possessions. For this
Apollo gave to Hermes a golden staff, protective of wealth and prosperity, and as well another gift. Apollo
alone had the prerogative of knowing the mind of Zeus and uttering prophecies in accord with his divine
wisdom. This prerogative he could not share with his new friend Hermes. Yet he could and did tell Hermes
about the Thriae, the three virgin sisters who were masters of the art of divination, whom Hermes could
consult as a source of prophetic knowledge which he could pass on to mortals, who would be fortunate if
they listened.
HERMAPHRODITUS AND SALMACIS
As a result of an affair between Hermes and Aphrodite, a son was born, named HERMAPHRODITUS [herma-froh-dee'tus], or HERMAPHRODITOS, whose name and beauty came from his parents. The most
famous version of his story comes from Ovid, which not only gives an aetiology for the hermaphrodite but
also explains why the spring SALMACIS [sal'ma-sis], or SALMAKIS was believed to enervate those who
bathed in it.
Hermaphroditus was brought up in a mountain-cave by nymphs, and when he was fifteen he left home to
wander unknown lands. When he came to Halicarnassus, on the coast of Asia Minor, he discovered a lovely
clear pool of water surrounded by fresh green grass. A nymph, Salmacis, inhabited the pool. She refused to
hunt in the woods and follow the pursuits of Artemis, but instead remained at her pool, often languishing
seductively on its verdant banks.
Once when she was picking flowers nearby, she caught sight of the divinely beautiful Hermaphroditus
and was smitten with an irresistible desire to have him. She carefully made herself as attractive as possible
before she addressed him with a fervent declaration of love that she insisted must be consummated.

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The boy blushed because he did not know what love was, and when she touched his lovely neck and
demanded at least the kisses of a sister, he threatened to leave. Salmacis, afraid to lose him, said that she
would give him free access to the place and pretended to leave him all alone. Instead she hid behind a
nearby grove of bushes to watch.
Hermaphroditus, captivated by the pool, threw off his clothes, and Salamacis was overwhelmed by the
sight of his naked body. He dove into the water, and Salmacis, inflamed by passion, quickly dove in after
him. She grabbed hold of him and held him, enveloping him with kisses as he struggled to be free.
Salmacis clung to Hermaphroditus with her whole body, and it was as though they were one. The gods
granted her prayer that they never be separated. Their two bodies were joined together, and they no longer
were boy or girl but partook of both sexes.
The parents of Hermaphroditus, now a hermaphrodite, granted his prayer that any man who bathed in
this pool would emerge with limbs weakened and softened and but half a man.
THE NATURE, ATTRIBUTES, AND WORSHIP OF HERMES
Here is a litany of the attributes of Hermes:

Lord of herds and lord of Mt. Cyllene and Arcadia, rich in flocks.
Devious, winning in his ingenuity, and a clever talker.
A spy in the night, a robber, and a prince of thieves.
Slayer of Argus (Argeiphontes, see M/L, Chapter 2).
Guide of dreams and guide of souls (Psychopompus).
Messenger of the gods.

Very important among these attributes is Hermes as the archetypal trickster and master of persuasion.
Also important is his role as divine messenger (particularly of Zeus) and as the god who guides our souls to
Hades; his epithet Psychopomus means guide of the soul. Since he is a messenger and guide he has the
accoutrements of a traveler and a herald:

The PETASUS [pet'a-sus], or PETASOS, a broad-brimmed hat, sometimes winged.

Sandals (talaria), often winged.
The CADUCEUS [ka-dou'see-us], or KERYKEION, a herald's staff, sometimes entwined with
two snakes (see Glossary of Mythological Words and Terms in English on this web site).

The friends, Hermes and Apollo, have a great deal in common. They are both gods of shepherds, flocks,
and music. Hermes is a teen-age Apollo, and his statues, Herms, were to be found in gymnasia.
Herms (sing: Herm). A Herm was a rectangular or square pillar equipped with male genitals and with the
head or bust of Hermes on top. (Herms also is the designation, in the ancient world, of such pillars with the
head or bust of any person or god, not necessarily Hermes). These statues brought fertility and good luck.

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CHAPTER 11: DIONYSUS, PAN, ECHO AND NARCISSUS

THE BIRTH, CHILDHOOD, AND ORIGINS OF DIONYSUS
There follows the traditional version of the birth of DIONYSUS [deye-o-neye'sus], or DIONYSOS; the
Romans preferred the name BACCHUS [bak'kus], in Greek BAKCHOS. Zeus, disguised as a mortal, loved
SEMELE [sem'e-lee], daughter of CADMUS [kad'mus], or KADMOS. Jealous Hera appeared to Semele
and convinced her rival to trick Zeus into revealing himself to her in the full magnificence of his divinity.
Thus Semele was burned to a cinder by the splendor of Zeus and his lightning flash. Their unborn child was
saved by Zeus, who sewed him up in his own thigh to be born again at the proper time. As a divine child,
Dionysus was brought up by nymphs and Semele's sister Ino on a mountain named Nysa [neye'sa],
variously located. Dionysus came to Greece from Phrygia and Thrace; he is a latecomer to the Olympian
pantheon. He brings happiness and salvation to those who accept him peacefully, and madness and death to
those who do not.
THE BACCHAE OF EURIPIDES
Euripides' play the Bacchae [bak'kee], or [bak'keye], is fundamental for an understanding of Dionysus and
his worship.
Dionysus himself has come in anger to Thebes (the first city in Greece in which he has introduced his
mysteries) because his very divinity has been challenged and the basic dogma of his religion repudiated.
The sisters of his mother claim that he, Dionysus, was not begotten by Zeus, but that Semele became
pregnant by some mortal; her father Cadmus induced her to say that Zeus was the real father, and Zeus
struck her dead because of her deception.
Through the power of Dionysus, the women of Thebes have become possessed by frenzy, and dressed in
fawn skins, they raise the Bacchic cry on Mt. CITHAERON [si-thee'ron], or KITHAIRON, to the musical
beat of tambourines, with the thyrsus (an ivy-covered pine-shaft) in their hands. Cadmus has retired as king
of Thebes and his young grandson Pentheus (pen'the-us) is vehemently opposed to this new religion.
Dionysus will vindicate his mother's honor and prove his godhead, with dire consequences for his enemies.

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The cry of the Bacchae (the women followers of Dionysus) describes a pure and mystic joy in Bacchic
worship.
Happy is the one who, blessed with the knowledge of the divine mysteries, leads a life of ritual purity and
joins the holy group of revelers heart and soul as they honor their god Bacchus in the mountains with holy
ceremonies of purification.
The play turns upon Dionysus' victory over Pentheus. This hubristic and neurotic king, still in his teens,
who is so violent in his opposition to a religion that he cannot understand, becomes an easy victim for the
god. He is lured to his destruction through the ambivalence of his sexual identity and by his desire to see
the orgies, which he imagines are being celebrated under the pretense of mystic rites. Led by Dionysus to
Mt. Cithaeron, Pentheus is torn to pieces by the fury of the Bacchae, with his mother AGAVE [a-ga'vee] as
their leader in the slaughter. She returns to Thebes with the head of her son affixed to the tip of her thyrsus
and awakens from her madness to realize the horror of her deed.
In the last scene of the play (for which the text is corrupt), Dionysus metes out his justice, which includes
exile for those who have sinned against him. As Agave takes leave of Thebes, she exclaims that she will go
where Mt. Cithaeron will be out of her sight and where there will be no remembrance of the thyrsus. It is
for others to become Bacchae and care for the things of Dionysus.

THE NATURE OF DIONYSUS, HIS RELIGION, AND HIS FOLLOWERS

Dionysus is a god of vegetation in general and in particular of the vine, the grape, and the making and
drinking of wine, with the exhilaration and release it can bring. He is the coursing of the blood through the
veins and the throbbing intoxication of nature and of sex. He represents the emotional and the irrational in
human beings, which drives them relentlessly to mob fury, fanaticism, and violence, but also to the highest
ecstasy of mysticism and religious experience. Within Dionysus lies both the bestial and the sublime.
Essential to his worship was a spiritual release through music and dance; in the history of religion,
archetypal behavior demands music and dance as essential for the most exalted rituals. In Bacchic
ceremonies, the god took possession of his worshipers, who ate the raw flesh of the sacrificial animal in a
kind of ritual communion since, they believed god to be present in the victim. This ceremony was called
OMOPHAGY [o-mo'fa-jee], and the religious congregation was known as the holy THIASUS [theye'asus], or THIASOS.
The female followers are called BACCHAE, or BAKCHAI; as we have learned, these are mortal women
who could become possessed by the god. They are also called MAENADS [mee'nadz], or MAINADS.
These names are also given to the mythological nymphs, spirits of nature, who follow in Dionysus' retinue.
SATYRS [sa'ters or say'ters] are the mythological male counterparts of these nymphs. They, however, are
not completely human, but part man and part animal, with a horse's tail and ears and a goat's beard and
horns. They are usually depicted nude and often sexually excited.
SILENI [seye-lee'neye], or SILENOI (sing.: silenus, silenos), are also older satyrs, some of whom are
wise.
Animal skins and garlands are typical attire for the Bacchic revelers; they carry a most characteristic
attribute of Dionysus, a THYRSUS [thir'sus], or THYRSOS, i.e., a pole wreathed with ivy or vine leaves,
pointed at the top to receive a pinecone. It can become a deadly weapon or act as a magic wand by which to
perform miracles.

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DIONYSUS AND APOLLO

Dionysus, with the emotional din and clash of his music and the unrestrained freedom and passion of his
worship, is often presented in direct contrast to Apollo, god of the lyre's disciplined melody, reason, and
self-control. These two antithetical forces of the irrational (Dionysian) and rational (Apollonian) are
dominant archetypal motifs inherent in human nature, and they have attained a particular importance and
influence because of Friedrich Nietzche's study of drama entitled The Birth of Tragedy.
DIONYSUS-ZAGREUS
Dionysus is a god of mystery religion, with a message of salvation. (For more on mystery religions, see
M/L, Chapters 12 and 14.). As god of the mysteries, Dionysus was sometimes invoked by the name of
Dionysus-Zagreus, or merely Zagreus, for whom specific dogma was established through a variation of the
traditional myth about his birth.
Zeus mated with his daughter Persephone, and she bore a son ZAGREUS [zag're-us] (another name for
Dionysus). Hera, because of her jealousy, incited the Titans to dismember the child and devour the pieces.
The heart of the child was saved; and Dionysus was born again, through Semele and Zeus, as recounted
above. Zeus in anger destroyed the Titans, and from their ashes mortals were born.
This is one of the most potent and basic myths in its elucidation of the teachings of mystery religions. It
explains why human beings are endowed with a dual nature. Our body is gross and evil because we are
sprung from the ashes of the Titans, but we have a pure and divine soul, since the Titans had devoured the
god. From this evolved concepts of virtue and sin, life after death, and reward and punishment. This myth
of Zagreus was incorporated into the mystery religion attributed to Orpheus.
DIONYSUS AND ARIADNE
ARIADNE [ar-i-ad'nee] gave the hero Theseus a thread by which he could find his way out of the labyrinth
after killing the Minotaur. She escaped with him from Crete but was abandoned by her lover on the island
of Naxos. Desperate and alone, she was rescued by Bacchus, who placed the wreath that she wore in the
heavens, where it became the constellation Corona. This damsel in distress found deliverance through a
god, not a hero; and this story of salvation illustrating the love and compassion of Dionysus (benevolent
god of the mysteries) has inspired great works of art.
ICARIUS AND ERIGONE
Sometimes Dionysus is accepted in peace. In Attica in the days of King Pandion (see M/L, Chapter 21), the
god rewarded the hospitality of ICARIUS [i-kar'i-us], or IKARIOS, by giving him the gift of wine. When
the people first felt its effects, they thought that they had been poisoned and killed Icarius. ERIGONE [erig'o-nee], his daughter (with her dog Maira), searched everywhere, and when she found her father dead she
hanged herself. A plague ensued until the people instituted a festival honoring Icarius and Erigone.
KING MIDAS OF PHRYGIA
Midas and Silenus. As we know, sileni are older satyrs, often leacherous drunkards but not always; some
were wise. When one of them, SILENUS [seye-lee'nus], or SILENOS, was captured and brought before
King MIDAS [meye'das], king of Phrygia, he said that the best fate for human beings was not to be born at
all, and the next best thing was to die as soon as possible. Midas recognized Silenus as a follower of
Dionysus and returned him to the god.
Midas and His Golden Touch. Dionysus was so grateful to Midas for the release of Silenus that he
promised to give the king any gift that he wished. Midas foolishly asked that whatever he should touch

36

might be turned to gold. At first Midas was delighted when he saw everything turn into gleaming riches by
the mere touch of his hand. Soon, however, this blessed power turned out to be a curse. Everything he tried
to eat and drink was immediately turned into a solid mass of gold, and even his beloved daughter was
transformed. He begged Dionysus for release, and the god took pity. He ordered Midas to cleanse himself
in the river Pactolus, near Sardis, and his power of the golden touch passed from his person into the stream.
Midas became devoted to the god Pan. Once again he showed his folly by preferring the music of the pipe
of Pan to the lyre of Apollo, and his ears were turned into those of an ass (see M/L, Chapter 9).
DIONYSUS AND THE PIRATES
The Homeric Hymn to Dionysus (7) tells how pirates, seeing the elegant Dionysus on the sea shore, thought
him to be the son of a king and carried him off on their ship. When they tried to bind him, however, the
bonds miraculously would not hold. Only the helmsman realized that they had tried to capture a god, but
his warnings of dire consequences went unheeded by the commander of the ship.
Then wondrous miracles appeared in the midst of the astonished sailors. Wine flowed through the ship and
with it arose a divine odor. A vine entwined about the mast and grew up to the very top of the sail, luxuriant
with flowers and grapes. The god created a raging bear and he himself became a terrifying lion, which
seized the ship's captain. The sailors, now in a panic, leaped into the sea and became dolphins.
Dionysus declared his true identity as a mighty god to the surviving helmsman, who had become dear to his
heart, and he pitied him and saved him and made him happy.
This poem offers a depiction of Dionysus' majesty power and the characteristics of his worship: miracles,
bestial transformation, violence to enemies, and pity, love, and salvation for those who understand.
PAN
The god Pan has much in common with the look and spirit of Dionysiac satyrs and sileni. He is part man,
with the horns, ears, and legs of a goat. His mother was a nymph, variously named, and his father often
identified as Hermes; like him, he is a god of shepherds and of music. His haunts are the mountains,
particularly of Arcadia, and he is often accompanied by a group of revelers dancing to the tune of his panpipe. He was extremely amorous. As he pursued the nymph PITYS [pit'is], she was turned into a pine tree
(the meaning of her name). The following transformations are more famous.
Pan and Syrinx. SYRINX [sir'inks], "pan-pipe," a lovely nymph devoted to Artemis ran from the advances
of Pan and was transformed into a bed of marsh reeds. The wind produced such a beautiful sound as it blew
through the reeds that Pan was inspired to cut two, fasten them together with wax, and fashion his own
musical instrument, the pan-pipe.
Pan and Echo. As the nymph Echo ran away from him, Pan spread such madness and "panic" among a
group of shepherds that they tore her to pieces and only her voice remained.
ECHO AND NARCISSUS
More famous is Echo's love for NARCISSUS [nar-sis'sus], or NARKISSOS. In this story she is still a
lovely nymph, but garrulous. She once detained Juno (according to Ovid) in a lengthy conversation so that
the goddess would not be able to catch her husband Jupiter lying with the nymphs. Juno was furious and
caused Echo to have a limited use of her tongue, by which Juno had been tricked. Thereafter Echo could
only repeat the final words spoken by others.

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The river god Cephisus and the nymph Lirope were the parents of a beautiful son named Narcissus.
When his mother inquired if Narcissus would live to a ripe old age, the seer Tiresias answered, "Yes, if he
will not have come to know himself."
Narcissus had reached the age of sixteen and was so extraordinarily beautiful that many youths and many
maidens desired him, but they did not dare even to touch him because of his fierce pride. One of his male
admirers who was scorned called out to the heavens, "So may he himself fall in love, so may he not be able
to possess his beloved." Nemesis (Retribution) heard his just prayer.
When Echo saw Narcissus as he was hunting, she burned with an insatiable passion. She would follow
him wherever he went but could only echo the last words that he would utter. Narcissus vehemently
rejected her advances and so, spurned and embarrassed, Echo hid in the woods and from that time has
inhabited solitary caves.
Once when Narcissus was hot and tired from the hunt, he came upon a pool of glistening clear water
amidst a lovely, cool grove. As he continued to drink, he was captivated as he gazed upon his own beauty,
and he fell hopelessly in love with his insubstantial reflection. He marveled at what others had marveled at
and like them could not quench his passion. As he bestowed kisses and tried to embrace himself, he could
never g.html and possess his deceptive image. Gradually he was so weakened and consumed by love of his
own reflection that he wasted away and died. While he was dying, poor Echo watched and felt sorry for
him as she repeated his cries of woe and his last farewell. At his death the nymphs of the waters and forest
wept, and Echo sounded their laments. In the Underworld Narcissus gazed at himself in the waters of the
river Styx. On earth his body disappeared, and in its place was a yellow flower with white petals in its
center.
CHAPTER 12: DEMETER AND THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES
The lengthy Homeric Hymn to Demeter (2) provides the most important and complete information about
DEMETER [de-mee'ter] (CERES) and PERSEPHONE [per-sef'o-nee] (PROSERPINA), daughter of Zeus
and Demeter, and is in itself a literary gem.
The Abduction of Persephone. Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, was also called KORE
[ko'ree], "girl" or "maiden." While she was picking beautiful flowers with the daughters of Ocean, Earth, at
the will of Zeus and to please Hades, produced a most wondrous and radiant narcissus. As Persephone
reached out to pluck the flower, Earth yawned open, and Hades appeared in his golden chariot and carried
her away in tears. Persephone shouted and called out to Zeus but he did not hear her for it was by his will
that HADES [hay'deez] (PLUTO), his brother and her uncle, carried her off to be his wife and queen of the
Underworld.
Demeter's Grief and Anger. Demeter heard her daughter's screams and frantically rushed in pursuit. For
nine days she did not eat ambrosia or drink nectar, nor did she bathe but roamed the earth, disconsolate and
holding burning torches in her hands. Hecate, who had heard Persephone's screams, could not tell Demeter
who has carried her off. On the tenth day, the sun-god Helius, who had seen everything, explained to
Demeter what had happened. He added that Demeter should not lament. Her brother Hades would make a
fine husband for her daughter since he was a great god, who when divine power was first divided three
ways was made king of the Underworld.
Now that she knew the truth, Demeter's grief was intensified and a great anger rose up in her heart
against Zeus because he had willed the rape of her daughter. She avoided the gods on Olympus and,
disguising her beautiful appearance, wandered among mortals.
Demeter Comes to Eleusis. She came to ELEUSIS [e-lou'sis] and, grieving, sat in the shade beside the
Maiden Well. She looked like a very old woman who might be a housekeeper or a children's nurse. The
four daughters of CELEUS [see'le-us] or KELEUS, the king of Eleusis, and METANEIRA [me-ta-neye'ra],

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his wife, saw her there when they came to draw water and questioned her. Demeter answered that she
would tell them the truth, but instead invented a life for her human identity. Her name is DOSO [doh'soh],
and she was carried off from Crete by pirates, from whom she escaped when they disembarked. She does
not know where she has come to in her travels, but she hopes that the maidens will help her find work as a
housekeeper or a nurse. Callidice, the most beautiful of the daughters of Celeus, suggested that the old
woman remain at the well until they return home to ask their mother if they might come back to fetch her.
Demeter Arrives at the Home of Celeus and Metaneira. When the young women returned home and told
their mother Metaneira all about Doso, she directed them to return quickly and hire the woman at any price.
For she cherished an only son, long prayed for, who needed care. So they brought the goddess to their
house, grieving, with her head veiled and wearing a dark robe. As the goddess stood in the threshold her
head reached up to the beams, and she filled the doorway with a divine radiance. Metaneira, overcome by
awe, asked her guest to be seated. Demeter refused to sit on the splendid couch offered but instead waited
until a servant IAMBE [eye-am'bee] brought her an artfully made chair and threw a fleece over it. Then
Demeter sat down, holding her veil over her face, silent and serious, tasting no food or drink and overcome
by longing for her daughter. Iambe, however, with jests and jokes (doubtlessly in iambic meter) caused the
holy lady to smile and laugh. She refused the red wine that Metaneira offered but instead ordered Metaneira
to mix meal, water, and mint for her. The great lady Demeter accepted the drink for the sake of the holy
rite, i.e. to initiate and observe the holy rite or sacrament. This drink (the kykeon) very likely represented a
kind of communion.
Demeter Nurses Demophoon. Metaneira promised Demeter great rewards if she would nurse her child
DEMOPHOON [de-mof'oh-on], or DEMOPHON, and bring him up. Demeter took the child to her bosom,
promising that he would not be harmed by evil charms. She nourished him on ambrosia, and she breathed
sweetness upon him, and he grew like a god. At night, she hid him in the fire, without the knowledge of his
parents, who were amazed how their child grew and flourished. Demeter would have made Demophoon
immortal, if foolish Metaneira had not spied upon her and cried out in terror because this stranger was
burying her son within the blazing fire.
Demeter Reveals her Divinity. Demeter was enraged at the stupidity of Metaneira, who by her
interference had ruined Demeter's plan to make the boy immortal. Nevertheless, Demeter would still allow
Demophoon to flourish as a mortal and grant him imperishable honor because he had slept in her arms.
Then Demeter proclaimed, "I am Demeter, esteemed and honored as the greatest benefit and joy to mortals
and immortals," and gave her instructions for the future of Eleusis. She cast off her old age and transformed
her size and appearance. Fragrant beauty and a divine radiance breathed around her and her golden hair
flowed down on her shoulders. The house was filled with her brilliance as though with a lightning flash.
She disappeared and Metaneira was overcome by astonishment and fear.
Demeter's Instructions. Before her disappearance, Demeter had ordered that the people of Eleusis build
for her a great temple and an altar below the town on the rising hill above the well Kallichoron; she
promised to teach them her rites so that by performing them with reverence they might propitiate her heart.
King Celeus saw to it that Demeter's will was accomplished.
Demeter's Determined Grief. Demeter, still wasted with longing for her daughter, caused for mortals a
most devastating year with no harvest. The earth would not send up a single sprout. She would not only
have destroyed the entire human race with cruel famine but would also have deprived the Olympian gods of
their glorious prestige from gifts and sacrifices. Zeus finally took notice. He sent Iris to Demeter in her
temple at Eleusis with his command that she rejoin the company of the gods. Demeter refused to obey. So
Zeus sent down all the immortal gods, who approached Demeter one by one, offering any gifts or honors
that she might choose. Demeter stubbornly insisted that she would never set foot on Olympus until she with
her own eyes saw her daughter again.
Zeus' Orders to Hades. Thus Zeus was forced to send Hermes down to explain to Hades all that Demeter
had said and done; Hermes also delivered the command that Persephone must return with him out of the
Underworld so that her mother might see her and desist from her wrath. Hades smiled grimly and

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immediately obeyed Zeus the king. He ordered Persephone to return with a loving heart to her mother; but
he also told her that he was not an unworthy husband for her, since he was the full brother of her father
Zeus and that while she was with him she would rule as his queen, a great goddess. Those who did not
propitiate her power by performing holy rites and sacrifices would find eternal retribution.
Persephone Eats of the Pomegranate. Joyous Persephone jumped up quickly. But (according to the poet
of the Hymn) Hades secretly gave his wife the fruit of the pomegranate to eat to insure the fulfillment of his
words to her as her husband; she should not remain the whole year above with her mother Demeter but
would rule with him below for part of the time.
He then yoked his immortal horses to his golden chariot, which Persephone mounted. Hermes took the
reins, and in no time at all they came to a halt in front of the temple where Demeter waited.
Demeter's Ecstatic Reunion with her Daughter. At the sight of her daughter, Demeter rushed out of the
temple with the passion of a maenad, and Persephone leaped down from the chariot and ran to meet her
mother, throwing her arms around her neck. Immediately Demeter sensed some treachery and asked if
Persephone had eaten any food in the Underworld. If she had not, she would live with her father Zeus and
mother Demeter above, but if she had eaten anything, she would live a third part of the year in the
Underworld and the other two thirds in the upper world. With the burgeoning spring she would wondrously
rise again from the gloomy region below. Demeter ended by asking by what trick Hades has deceived her.
Persephone said that she would tell the truth. According to her version (contradicting the description of
Hades' secret deception given above), when she jumped up at the news of her return, Hades swiftly put into
her mouth the fruit of the pomegranate and compelled her to eat it by force, against her will. Then
Persephone painfully described how Hades carried her off, despite her screams.
Their mutual grief was soothed by their loving and tender embraces. Hecate arrived and affectionately
shared their joy. From that time on she became one of Persephone's attendants.
Demeter Restores Fertility to the Earth. Zeus sent Rhea to lead Demeter back among the gods with the
following message. He promised to grant Demeter the honors among the immortals that she would choose,
and he consented that her daughter live a third part of the year below and the other two thirds above, with
her mother and the other gods. Rhea swiftly rushed down and delivered Zeus' pronouncements and
encouraged Demeter to comply, first by restoring the earth's fertility for mortals. Demeter obeyed. She
miraculously caused fruit to spring up from the fertile earth that had previously been barren, and the whole
land blossomed with flowers.
Demeter Establishes her Eleusinian Mysteries. Then Demeter went to the leaders of the people of
Eleusis and showed them how to perform her sacred rites and taught them her holy mysteries, which no one
is allowed in any way to violate, question, or reveal. After she had ordained these things, Demeter and
Persephone returned to Olympus. The two goddesses send to their beloved mortals PLUTUS [plou'tus], or
PLOUTOS, a god of agricultural plenty, prosperity, and wealth (not to be confused with Pluto, i.e. Hades).
The following words from the Homeric Hymn promise happiness both in this life and in the next for
those who are initiated into Demeter's ELEUSINIAN [e-lou-sin'i-an] MYSTERIES: Happy is the one of
mortals on earth who has seen these things. But those who are uninitiated into the holy rites and have no
part never are destined to a similar joy when they are dead in the gloomy realm below.
Triptolemus. TRIPTOLEMUS [trip-tol'e-mus], or TRIPTOLEMOS is only mentioned in the Hymn, but
elsewhere he is made the messenger of Demeter, traveling to teach her agricultural arts in a magical car
drawn by winged dragons. He and Demophoon are sometimes confused.

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THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES Eleusis is about fourteen miles west of Athens and the Eleusinian
mysteries were closely linked to the religion and politics of Athens itself. There were two major stages to
the rituals.
The Lesser Mysteries. Precise details about this first stage celebrated in Athens each year in the early
spring are virtually unknown. Ceremonies probably focused upon initial purification.
The Greater Mysteries. These were held annually during the months of September and October. A holy
truce was declared to issue invitations to individuals and states. The ceremonies included:

Splendid processions between Eleusis and Athens in which the Hiera ("holy objects") were carried
in sacred chests by priests and priestesses.
Sacrifices, prayers, and cleansing in the sea.
The singing of hymns, the exchange of jests, and the carrying of torches.
Fasting, a vigil, and the drinking of the sacred drink, the kykeon.

The ultimate mysteries of Eleusis were expressed visually and orally, and their unwritten secrets have been
kept, apparently forever. The heart of the mysteries involved a dramatic performance of some sort, perhaps
enacting episodes from the Hymn (e.g., the sufferings and joys of Demeter and her miracles) or presenting
a vision of the Afterlife to evoke a religious catharsis.
The revelation of the Hiera, "sacred objects," (which we cannot identify) was made by a high priest, the
Hierophant ("he who reveals the Hiera"), while bathed in mystic light, and he uttered words, the
significance of which we do not know. Of the many guesses made about the nature of the holy objects and
the sacred words, the simplest may be correct and the most profound: at their heart was the manifestation of
ears of grain, representing Demeter and Persephone's mystery, which is the mystery of all life.
CHAPTER 13: VIEWS OF THE AFTERLIFE: THE REALM OF HADES
Three major ancient authors taken together provide a composite and virtually complete summary of the
philosophical and religious beliefs about the afterlife evolved by the Greeks and Romans.
Homer, Odyssey, Book 11, the Nekuia ("The Book of the Dead")
Plato,Republic, the myth of Er, which concludes Book 10.
Vergil, Aeneid, Book 6.
HOMER, ODYSSEY, BOOK 11
In order to reach the entrance to the Underworld, Odysseus and his men had to go to the farthest, sunless
realm of the deep-flowing Ocean. Here ODYSSEUS [oh-dis'e-us] (ULYSSES) dug a pit and around it
poured libations to the dead; then, after many supplications, he cut the throats of sacrificed animals so that
their blood would run into the pit, whereupon a multitude of the souls of the dead swarmed up. Odysseus
ordered his men to flay and burn the slaughtered animals and pray to HADES [hay'deez] (PLUTO) and
PERSEPHONE [per-sef'o-nee], the king and queen of the Underworld. Next, Odysseus drew his sword and
took his post at the pit of blood and did not allow the spirits to drink the blood before he had spoken to
TIRESIAS [teye-ree'si-as or teye-ree'zi-as].
Elpenor and Tiresias. But the soul of his comrade ELPENOR [el-pee'nor] came up first. Elpenor had
fallen off the roof of Circe's palace and died, but did not receive burial. Odysseus promised to fulfill
Elpenor's directions for a proper burial. Then Odysseus conversed with Tiresias, who explained that only
the souls whom Odysseus allowed to drink of the blood could converse with him.
Odysseus Meets his Mother Anticlea. Odysseus' meeting with his mother ANTICLEA [an-ti-klay'a or anti-kleye'a], or ANTIKLEIA is of the greatest importance; from her he learns about the mystery of existence.

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The hero who conquers death, like a resurrection god, experiences the afterlife, and returns to this world,
knowing with certainty the ultimate truth about life and death, unlike us poor, ordinary mortals who can
never do the same. This is what Anticlea reveals to her son: This is the doom of mortals when they die,
for no longer do sinews hold bones and flesh together, but the mighty power of blazing fire consumes all,
as soon as the life breath leaves our white bones and flesh, and the soul like a dream flutters and flies away,
Many other souls come up, including a parade of beautiful heroines. Odysseus sees a group of illustrious
heroes, among whom is Achilles. Their interview has become most famous because of Achilles' disparaging
remarks about death are thought to mirror Greek humanistic attitudes (see M/L, Chapter 4): he would prefer
to be the slave of a poor man rather than rule over all the dead. Odysseus also saw a group of sinners being
punished, for example Tantalus and Sisyphus, who will be identified below.
The Homeric Underworld. The Homeric picture of the Underworld is not clearly defined. The heroes
seem to form a special group in a meadow of.htmlhodel but no special paradise is described like the Elysian
fields of later authors. These souls are vague spirits with all the passions they had while alive, drifting
joylessly in the gloom. The group of great mythological sinners identified may occupy a special hell, but
this is not clear. There is no mention at all of the souls of ordinary mortals, who must also end up in this
realm. This then is the afterlife as imagined in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.
PLATO'S MYTH OF ER
Plato concludes his Republic with a religious and philosophical vision of the Afterlife. A man named ER
died in war; after twelve days his body was uncorrupted and he returned to life, sent as a messenger from
the other world to describe all that he had seen.
After his soul had departed, it traveled with many and came to a divine place where there were two
openings in the earth and opposite were two others in the upper region of the sky. In the space between
these four openings were judges who passed sentence. They ordered the just to go to the right through one
of the openings upward in the sky, but they sent the unjust to the left through one of the downward
openings.
Er also saw from the remaining two openings some souls coming up out of the earth, covered with dust
and dirt, and others descending from the sky, pure and shining. When they were all reunited on the plain
they recounted their experiences.
The Sinners. The first group from out of the earth wept as they recounted their torments, which lasted one
thousand years. Everyone had to suffer an appropriate penalty for each sin, ten times over. Those who were
extraordinarily wicked, guilty of many murders and other unholy deeds (such as the evil tyrant Ardiaeus)
were never allowed to return out of the earth, but wild men of fiery.htmlect seized and flayed them and
hurled them down into Tartarus.
The Virtuous. The second group, on the other hand, who had descended from the opening in the sky, told
of the great happiness that they had felt and the sights of indescribable beauty that they had seen as they
completed their cycle of one thousand years.
The Choosing of a New Life. All these souls proceeded on another journey to arrive at a special place
which provided a cosmic view of the universe, controlled by the spindle of Necessity and her daughters, the
three Fates, and where the Sirens' song echoed the harmony of the spheres. In this place, each soul had to
pick a lot and choose from examples of lives before beginning the next cycle of mortality. In front of these
souls were placed the examples of every kind of life possible not only for all living creatures but also for
human beings. All important was the choice that a soul would make; it must have learned from its
experiences in life and in death to know the difference between the good life and the wicked, and always
choose the better rather than the worse. This is the crucial choice for a human being always, whether living
or dead, and the choice is the individual's own; god is blameless.

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Rebirth and Reincarnation. When all the souls had chosen their lives, whether wisely or foolishly, each
was given a guardian divine spirit. After certain ordained procedures, they came to LETHE [lee'thee] the
river of "forgetfulness," where it was necessary that they drink a certain amount (some were unwise and
drank too much). As they drank they became forgetful of everything, and fell asleep. In the middle of the
night amidst thunder and an earthquake, suddenly just like shooting stars they were carried upward, each in
a different direction; to its birth.
Plato has a similar account of the afterlife in the Phaedo. He explains that true philosophers who have
lived a holy life are eventually released from this cycle of reincarnation and entirely as souls inhabit
beautiful dwellings. In each of our lives in this world and in each of our periods of reward or punishment in
the afterlife, we are supposed to learn and become wiser and proceed upward spiritually.
The Platonic Afterlife. Plato is writing in the fourth century B.C., and his vision of the afterlife is far
different from Homer's. Not only do human beings have a body and a soul, but moral and religious
philosophy has developed a concept of virtue and sin which merits reward and punishment in the next life
and a theory of rebirth, reincarnation, and the transmigration of souls, all of which provides dogma for
mystery religions.
VERGIL'S BOOK OF THE DEAD
The fullest account of the afterlife comes from Vergil, Book 6 of his Aeneid, written in the second half of
the first century B.C., in which this learned and sensitive poet presents the classical Underworld in its full
development. The Roman hero AENEAS [e-nee'as] must visit the Underworld to see his beloved father,
ANCHISES [an-keye'seez]. In order to do so he must get a golden bough, which he finds with the aid of
two doves sent by his mother, Venus.
Aeneas and his Guide, the Sibyl. Aeneas' entrance to the Underworld is at Cumae in Italy and his guide is
the Cumaean SIBYL [si'bil], priestess of Apollo (see M/L, Chapter 9). After appropriate sacrifices, Aeneas
and the Sibyl enter the Underworld and reach the banks of the river that is its boundary. The grim ferryman
CHARON [ka'ron] refuses to take across in his boat those who are unburied; among them is PALINURUS
[pa-li-nou'rus], or PALINUROS, the helmsman of Aeneas, who had not received burial. In an interview
reminiscent of that between Odysseus and Elpenor in Homer, Palinurus receives assurances from Aeneas
that his body will receive proper rites.
Once a reluctant Charon sees the golden bough, he agrees to ferry Aeneas and the Sibyl across; on the
other shore the three-headed hound of Hades, CERBERUS [ser'ber-us] or KERBEROS, guards the realm.
The Sibyl throws him a drugged sop, which he devours eagerly. As the two proceed on their way, they pass
through various regions (the geography of Vergil's Underworld is quite detailed). One of these regions is
called the fields of mourning. This is where Aeneas encounters DIDO [deye'doh], queen of Carthage, who
had committed suicide when Aeneas left her (see M/L, Chapter 24). They come to a place where the road
divides; on the left, the path leads to TARTARUS [tar'tar-us], or TARTAROS, on the right to ELYSIUM [eliz'ee-um], or ELYSION.
Tartarus (Hell). This is the place of punishment for sinners, the Greco-Roman concept of Hell. In Vergil it
is a triple-walled, invincible fortress with a huge door, mighty columns, and an iron tower, and it is
surrounded by a seething, violent river. One of the dread Furies stands guard. From within come horrible
sounds of suffering. The Sibyl expounds to Aeneas the nature of sin and its punishment and concludes by
saying that she would not be able to recount all the forms of wickedness or enumerate the names of all the
punishments, even if she had a hundred tongues.
Elysium or the Elysian Fields (Paradise). When they come to the happy places, the pleasant glades of the
woods of the Fortunate, Aeneas and the Sibyl find that all is bright, for paradise has its own sunlight.
Shades, wearing halos of snowy white garlands on their temples, are enjoying themselves in the pleasant

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activities that they pursued while alive. Some delight in sports, others appreciate music and dance under the
inspired direction of the bard Orpheus.
Amidst the virtuous are patriots who died for their country, priests who remained pure, and devout poets
who were worthy of their god, Apollo. Vergil singles out with magnanimous insight, "those who made life
better by their discoveries in the arts and the sciences and who through merit made others remember them."
The climax of the scene is Aeneas' touching encounter with his father ANCHISES [an-keye'seez], who
reveals the mysteries of human existence. The mother of Odysseus had done the same for her son, but her
explanation was more personal and not nearly so civic, detailed, and philosophical. A more Platonic
Anchises explains that a divine spirit or mind sustains the universe, and the souls of mortals are but seeds
from this divine spirit. Enclosed by the prison of an earthly, harmful, and mortal body, the immortal soul
becomes contaminated and must be purified before it comes to Elysium. Anchises points out the group of
souls gathered by the stream of Lethe, who must drink of this river of forgetfulness before they are enter a
new life. In this group Anchises identifies a long array of great and illustrious Romans who are yet to be
born.
TRADITIONAL ELEMENTS OF THE REALM OF HADES AND PERSEPHONE
Hades. Called DIS, PLUTO (both names mean wealth), or ORCUS [or'kus] by the Romans, Hades is a god
of agricultural plenty and the king of the Underworld. He and other deities of his realm are known as
chthonian, "of the earth" (see M/L, Chapter 4).
Persephone. Queen of the Underworld and Hades' wife (see M/L, Chapter 12).
Tartarus. The name of the realm as a whole or the place of punishment, i.e. Hell. Called ORCUS by the
Romans.
Erebus. The darkness of Tartarus or another name for Tartarus itself.
Elysium, the Elysian Fields. Paradise in the Underworld.
The Three Judges. MINOS [meye'nos], RHADAMANTHYS [ra-da-man'this], or RHADAMANTHUS,
and AEACUS [ee'a-kus], or AIAKOS. They pass sentence on the just and unjust souls.
The Five Rivers. STYX [stiks], the river "of hate"; ACHERON [ak'e-ron], "of woe"; LETHE [lee'thee],
"of forgetfulness"; COCYTUS [koh-keye'tus or koh-seye'tus], or KOKYTOS, "of wailing";
PYRIPHLEGETHON [pi-ri-fleg'e-thon], or PHLEGETHON [fleg'e-thon], "of fire."
The Ferryman. Charon transports souls across the river Styx, or Acheron. He demands as fare the coin that
is buried in the mouth of a corpse. Proper burial is essential.
Hermes Psychopompus. Hermes as "leader of the soul" takes our souls, after death, to Charon.
The Hound of Hades. The dog Cerberus guards the realm. He is ferocious and usually is depicted with
three snarling heads.
The Most Important Great Mythological Sinners.

TITYUS [tit'i-us], or TITYOS. A vulture tears at his liver, which is ever renewed.
IXION [ik-seye'-on] is bound forever to a revolving (fiery) wheel.

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The DANAIDS [dan'a-idz] are the forty-nine daughters of Danas who killed their husbands on
their wedding night (see M/L, Chapter 19). They endlessly attempt to draw water in sievelike
containers.
SISYPHUS [sis'i-fus], or SISYPHOS continually attempts to roll a rock to the top of a hill, only to
have it roll down.
TANTALUS [tan'ta-lus], or TANTALOS is "tantalized" forever by the fruit of a tree and water
from a pool, just out of his reach.

The Furies. The ERINYES [er-rin'i-eez], or FURIES were born from the blood that fell onto the earth after
the castration of Uranus, or are the daughters of Night. They are the pitiless and just avengers of crime,
especially murder and blood-guilt within the family. They act as the avenging spirits of those who have
been slain. In Aeschylus' Oresteia (see M/L, Chapter 16) they represent the old order of primitive justice
meted out by the members of the family or clan, and they are appeased and given the name EUMENIDES
[you-men'i-deez], "the kindly ones." Their primitive justice is replaced by a new era of right, championed
by Apollo and Athena, approved by Zeus, and dispensed through civic courts of law.
In the Underworld itself there are three major furies (named Allecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone), who with
their whips ruthlessly scourge the wicked.

CHAPTER 14: ORPHEUS AND ORPHISM: MYSTERY RELIGIONS IN ROMAN TIMES

THE STORY OF ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
The Thracian bard ORPHEUS [orf'e-us] summoned HYMEN [heye'men], the god of marriage, to be
present at his marriage to his beloved EURYDICE [you-ri'di-see]. The omens, however, were bad, and the
new bride was bitten on the ankle by a snake and died.
Orpheus' grief was so inconsolable that he dared to descend to the Underworld, where he made his
appeal to the king and queen themselves, Hades (Pluto) and Persephone (Proserpina), in a song sung to the
accompaniment of his lyre. In the name of Love, Orpheus asked that his Euridice be returned to him in life;
if not he would prefer to remain there in death with his beloved. His words, his music, and his art held the
shades spellbound, and the king and queen were moved to grant his request, but on one condition: Orpheus
was not to turn back to look at Eurydice until he had left the Underworld. As they approached the border of
the world above, Orpheus, anxious and yearning, turned and looked back, through love. At his gaze she
slipped away from his embrace with a faint farewell to die a second time. Orpheus was stunned, and his
appeals to Charon that he cross the Styx again were denied. Overwhelmed by grief, he withdrew to the
mountains and for three years rejected the many advances of passionate women. Thus he was the originator
of homosexuality among the Thracians.
While he was charming the woods, rocks, and wild beasts to follow him, a group of Bacchic women,
clad in animal skins, caught sight of him and, angry at his rejection of them, hurled weapons and stones,
which at first did no harm because they were softened by his song. As the madness and the frenzied music
of the maenads grew more wild and the bard's song was drowned out, he was overcome and killed and
finally torn to pieces by their fury. His limbs were scattered, but his head and lyre floated on the River

45

Hebrus out to sea, both all the while making lamentations. They were washed ashore at Lesbos. Here,
Apollo froze into stone a serpent, as it was about to bite the head of Orpheus.
Orpheus now at last was reunited with his Euryidice in the Underworld, where they remain together, side
by side, forever.
THE VERSIONS OF OVID AND VERGIL
The summary above is of Ovid's version of the myth in his Metamorphoses (translated in full, M/L,
Chapter 14). The other classic version is by Vergil, at the end of his Georgics (see Archives). It is rewarding
to compare the poetic emphasis of each and analyze the reasons for variations in incident, drama, and
purpose; both, in different ways, immortalize the theme of tragic love and devotion. The most important
"factual" difference in Vergil's treatment is that he holds ARISTAEUS (ar-is-tee'us), or ARISTAIOS, the
keeper of bees, responsible for Eurydice's death, a detail absolutely essential for the incorporation of the
Orpheus myth into the thematic material of his Georgics, a work about farming.
ORPHEUS AND ORPHISM
Orpheus of Thrace was the son of Apollo (or a Thracian river-god Oeagrus) and the muse Calliope.
Through music and poetry and with extraordinary art, he delivered a persuasive religious message, the
foundation of a mystery religion called Orphism. This message is linked both to Apollo and to Dionysus,
gods often antithetical in nature. Orpheus is torn to pieces by fanatical Bacchic maenads; this mirrors the
fate of Pentheus and suggests that his death was prompted not only by his sexual rejection of women but
also because of the nature of his religious teaching.
The Orphic Bible. With its myth of creation, the Orphic Bible was linked in some of its details to the
Hesiodic account but differed radically in its spiritual content. The first principle is Time (Chronos) and
Eros, or Love, is the first born of the deities, called PHANES [fa'neez] and hatched from an egg.
Fundamental for dogma was the myth of Dionysus (see M/L, Chapter 11), in which the infant god was torn
to pieces and devoured by the wicked Titans; from the ashes of the Titans (smitten by Zeus' thunderbolt)
humans were created; hence the immortality of the soul, sin and virtue, reward and punishment.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTERY RELIGIONS
Christianity shares many characteristics with other mystery religions of antiquity, which are called mystery
religions because of their concern with the fundamental mysteries of human existence: life and death,
questions about god, the soul, and the afterlife. Also, these mysteries involved secrets revealed only to
members of the religious group, the initiates.
Thus a form of initiation into a mystery religion was mandatory, requiring some kind of ritual such as
baptism to set the initiate apart from the profane outsiders. A mystery religion preached a dogma to be
believed and directions to be followed for happiness and redemption. Faith in the concept of god or the
gods was primary, as well as a conviction in the immortality of the human soul which partook of divine
characteristics. In conflict with the purity and immortality of the divine soul were the sin and degradation
of the mortal body. Communion, the sacramental partaking of food and drink, linked the initiate with the
divine.
A strong sense of virtue and sin and reward and punishment in an afterlife was fundamental, embracing
various concepts of immortality, involving the transmigration of souls, rebirth, reincarnation, resurrection,
and redemption.
MYSTERY RELIGIONS OF ANTIQUITY

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Many mystery religions developed and flourished during the Roman Empire:

The Mysteries of Dionysus/Bacchus (see M/L, Chapter 11). The vine of Dionysus (Ariadne's
savior) became a symbol of renewed life and Christian resurrection and redemption.
The Mysteries of Demeter at Eleusis (see M/L, Chapter 12).
The Mysteries of Cybele and Attis (also discussed in M/L, Chapter 7). The priests were eunuchs
called Galli, and rites of initiation included baptism by the blood of a slain bull, the taurobolium.
The Mysteries of the Persian god Mithra (Mithras).
The Worship of Atargatis, Dea Syria (the Syrian goddess) and Tammuz.
The Mysteries of the Egyptian goddess Isis and Osiris. Most fully documented by Apuleius in his
Metamorphoses or The Golden Ass, as he describes the experiences of the initiate Lucius.
The Mysteries of the Cabiri, called the great gods (theoi megaloi).
Syncretism: In the development of Greco-Roman religious thought the process of SYNCRETISM,
"growing together," becomes increasingly apparent. This term describes the harmonizing by
different religions of their gods and myths into some sort of unity. In Apuleius, the great Egyptian
deity Isis has absorbed the identity of other similar goddesses and may be invoked by their names,
Cybele, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, Demeter, Persephone, and Hera.

CHAPTER 15: THE THEBAN SAGA

THE MYCENAEAN WORLD AND GREEK SAGA
Sagas, or legends, are defined as mythological stories that have some basis in history. Greek sagas are
grouped in cycles (i.e., clusters of legends concerning a hero, a family, a tribe, a city, or an area) connected
with late Bronze Age communities which flourished ca. 1600-1100 B.C. (see M/L, Introduction, for
historical background and chronology of the early Greek world). The richest of these was Mycenae. Other
Peloponnesian centers with cycles of saga are Tiryns, Argos, and Sparta, and the rural area of Arcadia. On
the Greek mainland, the chief centers are Athens, Thebes, Orchomenus, and Iolcus. Outside the Greek
mainland important sagas are connected with Troy and Crete. The saga of Odysseus is unique in extending
far outside the Mycenaean world and incorporating many folktales.
THE THEBAN SAGA: THE FOUNDING OF THEBES
Cadmus and Europa. EUROPA [you-roh'pa], daughter of Agenor of Tyre and sister of CADMUS
[kad'mus], or KADMOS, was abducted by Zeus (in the form of a bull) and taken to Crete, where she
became (by Zeus) the mother of Minos.
Cadmus went to Greece in search of Europa. The oracle at Delphi told him not to go on with the search
but instead to follow a certain cow until she lay down. There he was to found a city. The cow led Cadmus
from Phocis to the place (in Boeotia) where he founded CADMEIA [kad-mee'a], or KADMEIA, later
called Thebes.

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The Spartoi. The companions of Cadmus, needing water for the ceremony of sacrificing the cow to
Athena, killed the serpent (child of Ares) that guarded the spring. It killed Cadmus' men and was itself
killed by Cadmus, who obeyed Athena's command to sow its teeth. From them sprang up armed men, who
fought and killed each other until there were five survivors. From them were descended the noble families
of Thebes, called SPARTOI [spar'toy], "sown men."
Cadmus and Harmonia. In penance for killing the serpent, Cadmus served Ares for a year and was given
HARMONIA [har-moh'ni-a], daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, as wife, to whom he gave as a wedding gift a
necklace made by Hephaestus. Their four daughters were Ino, Semele, Autono, and Agave (see M/L,
Chapter 11).
Cadmus introduced writing and other arts of civilization at Thebes. After a long reign, he and Harmonia
went to Illyria and finally were changed into harmless serpents.
THE FAMILIES OF LABDACUS AND LYCUS
Pentheus succeeded his grandfather, Cadmus, as king. After his death (see M/L, Chapter 11), Labdacus
founded a new dynasty. On his death LYCUS [leye'kus] or LYKOS, son of Chthonius (one of the Spartoi),
became regent for the infant LAIUS [lay'us or leye'us], or LAIOS.
Antiope and Zeus. The niece of Lycus was ANTIOPE [an-teye'oh-pee], daughter of Nycteus. Zeus made
her the mother of the twins AMPHION [am-feye'on] and ZETHUS [zee'thus], or ZETHOS, who were
brought up by a shepherd while Antiope was imprisoned by Lycus and his wife, DIRCE [dir'see]. She
escaped and after a long time was recognized by her sons, who killed Lycus and tied Dirce to the horns of a
bull that dragged her to her death.
Amphion and Zethus. These twin brothers became rulers of Cadmeia and sent Laius into exile. They built
walls for the city, whose stones were moved into place by the music of Amphion's lyre. Amphion married
Niobe (see Chapter 8) and Zethus married THEBE [thee'bee], after whom the name of Cadmeia was
changed to THEBES [theebz].
Laius' Abduction of Chrysippus. In exile Laius lived with PELOPS [pee'lops], king of Elis, whose son
CHRYSIPPUS [kreye-sip'pus], or CHRYSIPPOS, he abducted. For this transgression of the laws of
hospitality Pelops invoked a curse on him and his family.
Laius and Jocasta. On the death of Amphion and Zethus, Laius returned to Thebes as king and married
JOCASTA [joh-kas'ta], or IOKASTE. Apollo's oracle at Delphi warned that their son would kill his father
as the working-out of the curse of Pelops.
OEDIPUS
Laius ordered a shepherd to expose his infant son on Mount CITHAERON [si-thee'ron], or KITHAIRON,
driving a spike through his ankles. The baby was given instead by the shepherd to a Corinthian shepherd,
servant of POLYBUS [pol'i-bus] or POLYBOS, king of Corinth, and Queen MEROPE [mer'o-pee], who
called the baby OEDIPUS [e'di-pus or ee'di-pus], or OIDIPOUS, "swellfoot."
Oedipus at Delphi. As a young man Oedipus was taunted for not really being the son of Polybus and left
Corinth to ask the oracle at Delphi who his parents were. He was warned that he was destined to kill his
father and marry his mother.
The Murder of Laius. Oedipus therefore did not return to Corinth, and at a crossroad that led to Thebes,
he killed a regal old man in a chariot who had struck him and driven him off the road. The old man, whom
he did not recognize, was Laius.

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The Sphinx. Thebes was suffering from the Sphinx ("strangler"), a monster that was part woman, part lion,
and part bird. It killed those who could not answer its riddle, "What has one name that is four-footed, twofooted, and three-footed?" Oedipus answered "Man, who as a baby crawls on all fours, in his prime he
walks on two feet, and in old age he uses a stick as a third foot." The Sphinx hurled itself to its death, and
Oedipus became king of Thebes in place of the dead Laius, and took the widowed queen, Jocasta, as wife.
Oedipus the King. Thebes was afflicted with a plague after many years of Oedipus' reign. The oracle at
Delphi advised the Thebans that it had been caused by the pollution of the murderer of Laius living in their
city. Oedipus was determined to find out the murderer's identity, yet he refused to believe the prophet,
TIRESIAS [teye-ree'si-as], who told him that he was the murderer. A messenger (who was the same
shepherd to whom the infant Oedipus had been given by the Theban shepherd) came from Corinth to
announce the death of Polybus and offer the throne of Corinth to Oedipus. He told Oedipus, who refused to
return to Corinth because of the prophecy that he would marry his mother, that he was not the son of
Polybus. Oedipus sent for the Theban shepherd and the truth was discovered. Jocasta had already silently
gone into the palace, where she hanged herself; Oedipus rushed into the palace and blinded himself with
the brooches from Jocasta's robe.
Oedipus at Colonus. CREON [kree'on], or KREON, the brother of Jocasta, became king and Oedipus
went into exile accompanied by his daughters, ANTIGONE [an-tig'o-nee] and ISMENE [is-mee'nee]. He
wandered eventually to COLONUS [ko-loh'nus], or KOLONOS (in Attica), and was kindly received by
THESEUS [thee'se-us], king of Athens. At Colonus Oedipus bid farewell to his daughters and then
miraculously disappeared from the earth, observed only by Theseus. A hero-cult was established at the
place where he vanished.

THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES

In another version Oedipus was shut up in the palace at Thebes and cursed his sons, ETEOCLES [e-tee'ohkleez], or ETEOKLES, and POLYNICES [pol-i-neye'seez], or POLYNIKES, for putting before him one
day a less honorable portion of food. He prayed that after his death they might fight to divide the kingdom.
Oedipus died at Thebes (in this version), and his sons quarreled over the throne, agreeing finally that
each should reign in alternate years while the other went into exile.
Eteocles and Polynices. After the first year, Eteocles refused to give up the throne, and Polynices raised an
army with the help of Adrastus, king of Argos, to march against Thebes. This is the start of the saga of The
Seven against Thebes.
The Seven. The names of the seven leaders who attacked Thebes were Polynices, Adrastus, Tydeus,
Capaneus, Hippomedon, Parthenopaeus, and Amphiaras.
Amphiaras and Eriphyle. AMPHIARAS [am-fi-a-ray'us] was a seer and knew that the Seven would
fail. His wife, ERIPHYLE [e-ri-feye'lee], bribed by Polynices with the gift of the necklace of Harmonia
(see above), persuaded him to go. He ordered his sons to avenge his death by punishing Eriphyle.
Hypsipyle and Opheltes. During the march from Argos to Thebes the Seven met HYPSIPYLE [hip-sip'ilee] (see Chapter 22), nurse of the infant OPHELTES [o-fel'teez], who was killed by a serpent. In his honor
the Seven founded the NEMEAN [nem'e-an] Games.

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The Seven Against Thebes. Tydeus, one of the Seven, failed in a peace embassy to Thebes and escaped an
ambush set by the Thebans. In the attack on Thebes, each of the Seven stormed one of the city's gates.
Capaneus was killed by Zeus' thunderbolt; Hippomedon, Parthenopaeus, and Tydeus fell in battle;
Amphiaras escaped in his chariot and was miraculously swallowed up by the earth beside the river
Ismenus. Hero-cults in his honor were established there and elsewhere. Polynices and Eteocles killed each
other in single combat. Of the Seven only ADRASTUS [a-dras'tus], or ADRASTOS, returned home.
Antigone. Antigone defied the edict of Creon forbidding the burial of Polynices. Obeying the decrees of
Zeus, she gave her brother symbolic burial and was condemned to death by Creon. HAEMON [hee'mon],
or HAIMON, Creon's son and her fianc, shared her death, and Creon, warned by Tiresias, relented too
late.
Burial of the Heroes. Theseus helped the widows and mothers of the dead Argive heroes recover the
unburied corpses and give them proper funerals. EVADNE [e-vad'nee], widow of CAPANEUS [kap'an-eus], or KAPANEUS, threw herself into the flames of his pyre.
THE EPIGONI, SONS OF THE SEVEN
ALCMAEON [alk-mee'on], or ALKMAION, son of Amphiaras, led the EPIGONI [e-pig'o-nee], or
EPIGONOI ("the later generation"), in a successful attack on Thebes, which was abandoned by its
inhabitants.
Alcmaeon and Eriphyle. Alcmaeon killed his mother, Eriphyle, in obedience to his father's orders (see
above). Pursued by the Furies, he came to Arcadia, where he married the daughter of King Phegeus, to
whom he gave the necklace of Harmonia. As a matricide he was a pollution on the land and was driven out.
He came to western Greece and there married Callirho, daughter of the river-god, Achelos, to whom he
gave the necklace of Harmonia, having recovered it in Arcadia. His sons became the founders of the Greek
district of Acarnania.
TIRESIAS
Tiresias, the blind prophet, was son of the nymph Chariclo. He was blinded by Hera for taking Zeus' side in
a quarrel and maintaining that the female sex derived more pleasure from the sexual act than the male, for
he had been both man and woman. As a recompense Zeus gave him the gift of prophecy.
Tiresias was consulted by Odysseus at the entrance to the Underworld and revealed his future
wanderings (see M/L, Chapter 18). He accepted the worship of Dionysus at Thebes and warned Pentheus in
vain of his mistake (see M/L, Chapter 11). He revealed the truth to Oedipus in Sophocles' Oedipus the King
and in Sophocles' Antigone he warned Creon of his errors.
Tiresias died during the Theban exodus after the attack of the Epigoni.

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CHAPTER 16: THE MYCENAEAN SAGE

TANTALUS AND PELOPS
The Banquet of Tantalus. TANTALUS [tan'ta-lus], or TANTALOS, an Asian prince and a son of Zeus, cut
up his son, PELOPS [pee'lops], boiled the pieces, and served them to the gods at a banquet. For this he was
excluded from the companionship of the gods and condemned to suffer everlasting thirst and hunger in the
Underworld (see M/L, Chapter 13). At the banquet the gods refused to eat, except for Demeter, who,
distracted by grief for the loss of her daughter (see M/L, Chapter 12), ate part of Pelops' shoulder. The gods
restored him to life, giving him an ivory shoulder to replace the part eaten by Demeter.
Pindar was doubtful about the myth of the banquet of Tantalus and explained Pelops' disappearance by
saying that Poseidon loved Pelops and took him up to Olympus and that the other gods sent him back.
Pelops Wins Hippodamia. Pelops left Asia and came to Greece as a suitor for the hand of HIPPODAMIA
[hip-poh-da-mee'a or hip-poh-da-meye'a], or HIPPODAMEIA, daughter of OENOMAS [ee-noh-may'us],
or OINOMAOS, king of Pisa. To win the bride, a suitor had to defeat Oenomas in a chariot race from Pisa
to the Isthmus of Corinth, taking Hippodamia in his chariot and starting ahead of Oenomas. If Oenomas
caught up with him, he would kill the suitor and take Hippodamia back. Thirteen suitors had failed before
Pelops. Pelops prayed to Poseidon for success and won the race with the god's help. The scene before the
start of the chariot-race is the subject of the sculptures of the east pediment of the Temple of Zeus at
Olympia (see M/L, Chapter 3).

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In the best-known version, Pelops won by bribing MYRTILUS [mir'ti-lus], or MYRTILOS, the king's
charioteer, to remove the linchpins from his chariot, causing the king to crash. His reward would be to
spend the first night with the bride.
The Curse of Myrtilus. After winning the race in this way, Pelops did not honor the agreement and threw
Myrtilus into the sea. As he fell, Myrtilus cursed Pelops and his descendants.
Pelops, King and Hero. Pelops returned to Pisa as king. After his death he was honored with a hero-cult at
Olympia (in the territory of Pisa), and together with his grandfather, Zeus, he received sacrifices at the
Olympic festival. He gave his name to the southern part of the Greek mainland, Peloponnese ("Island of
Pelops").
THE HOUSE OF ATREUS
The Quarrel Between Atreus and Thyestes. The sons of Pelops were ATREUS [ay'tre-us] and
THYESTES [theye-es'teez]. They quarreled over the kingship of Mycenae which had been offered to "a
son of Pelops." Atreus, as the possessor of a golden-fleeced ram, claimed the throne.
While Atreus was celebrating his coronation his wife, AROPE [a-er'o-pee], took Thyestes as her lover
and gave him the ram. Thyestes replaced Atreus as king and drove him into exile.
The Banquet of Atreus and the Curse of Thyestes. Atreus returned from exile and drove out Thyestes.
Later he tricked him into returning by pretending to be reconciled, and invited him to a banquet. He killed
Thyestes' sons and served them up to their father, who ate them. At the sight of this crime, the sun hid and
the heavens darkened. Thyestes cursed Atreus and left Mycenae.
THE FAMILY OF AGAMEMNON
Aegisthus. In his second exile, Thyestes lay with his daughter, Pelopia, and became father of AEGISTHUS
[ee-jis'thus], or AIGISTHOS, who continued the vendetta against the family of Atreus.
Agamemnon and Clytemnestra; the Sacrifice of Iphigenia. AGAMEMNON [ag-a-mem'non] succeeded
his father, Atreus, and ruled Mycenae with CLYTEMNESTRA [kleye-tem-nes'tra], or KLYTAIMNESTRA
as his queen. To obtain a favorable wind for the Greek fleet to sail to Troy (see M/L, Chapter 17), he
sacrificed his daughter, IPHIGENIA [if-i-je-neye'a or if-i-je-nee'a], or IPHIGENEIA, to Artemis.
Clytemnestra and Aegisthus; the Murder of Agamemnon and Cassandra. To avenge her daughter's
murder, Clytemnestra took Aegisthus as her lover while she ruled Mycenae in the ten-year absence of
Agamemnon at Troy. Together they murdered Agamemnon in the palace when he returned after the sack of
Troy.
CASSANDRA [kas-san'dra] or KASSANDRA, a Trojan princess and seer (see M/L, Chapters 9 and 17),
accompanied Agamemnon and was murdered with him. She described the coming murders before entering
the palace.
In this and the following generation, Myrtilus' curse on the descendants of Pelops and the curse of
Thyestes against Atreus afflicted only the family of Agamemnon. The troubles of his brother, MENELAS
[men-e-lay'us] or MENELAOS (king of Sparta: see M/L, Chapter 17), were not part of the working out of
the curse.
ORESTES AND ELECTRA

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The son of Agamemnon, ORESTES [o-res'teez], was away from Mycenae when his father was murdered,
living with Strophius, king of Phocis. Apollo ordered him to fulfill his filial duty to avenge Agamemnon's
death.
Orestes' Murder of his Mother Clytemnestra. Orestes returned to Mycenae in disguise and was
recognized by his sister, ELECTRA [e-lek'tra] or ELEKTRA. With her support he entered the palace and
there killed Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.
The Furies Pursue Orestes. Orestes, guilty of killing his mother, was pursued by the ERINYES [e-rin'eeez], or the FURIES (see M/L, Chapters 13), who drove him mad. He came to Delphi where Apollo
promised to protect him and ordered him to go to Athens.
Orestes Acquited by the Areopagus. At Athens, Orestes was tried for murder before the court of the
AREOPAGUS [a-ree-o'pa-gus], or AREIOPAGOS. Athena presided over the court, while the Erinyes
prosecuted Orestes and Apollo defended him. The verdict of the jury of Athenian citizens was split, and
Athena gave her casting vote for acquittal.
The Eumenides. The verdict broke the power of the Erinyes, to whom Athena gave a new home on the
Acropolis at Athens and a new name, EUMENIDES [you-men'i-deez], "the kindly ones." The curse on the
descendants of Pelops had worked itself out.
The Three Electras. It is fascinating and rewarding to compare the extant versions of the legend of Orestes
and Electra by Aeschylus (The Libation Bearers [Choephori]), Sophocles (Electra), and Euripides
(Electra). The Libations Bearers is the second play in Aeschylus' trilogy, The Oresteia.
Orestes and Hermione. Orestes returned to Mycenae as king and ruled with HERMIONE [her-meye'onee], daughter of Menelas, whom he married after arranging the killing at Delphi of her husband,
NEOPTOLEMUS [ne-op-tol'e-mus], or NEOPTOLEMOS, son of Achilles. Later Orestes ruled over Argos
and Sparta as well. His son, Tisamenus, died defending the Peloponnese against the Heraclidae (see M/L,
Chapter 20).
Orestes was buried at Tegea, a neighboring city and rival of Sparta. The Spartans, advised by the Delphic
oracle, recovered his bones, which brought them victory over the Tegeans.
Iphigenia among the Taurians. In another version Orestes was purified at Delphi. In yet another, Apollo
ordered him to go to the land of the Tauri (i.e., the Crimea) and fetch a wooden statue of Artemis from the
temple where Iphigenia, rescued from sacrifice by Artemis (see M/L, Chapter 17), was priestess of the
goddess. She saved Orestes from being sacrificed to Artemis, and together they returned with the statue to
Greece. Iphigenia became priestess of Artemis at Brauron in Attica.
Electra and Pylades. Electra lived on at Mycenae after Agamemnon's murder. She helped Orestes kill her
father's murderers and married his companion, PYLADES [pi'la-deez], bearing him two sons, Strophius
and Medon.

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CHAPTER 17: THE TROJAN SAGA

THE CHILDREN OF LEDA
LEDA [lee'da], wife of TYNDAREUS [tin-dar'e-us], king of Sparta, bore four children to Zeus, who
appeared to her in the form of a swan. Polydeuces and Helen (who were immortal) were born from one egg,
Castor and Clytemnestra (who were mortal) from the other.
Castor and Polydeuces. CASTOR [kas'tor] or KASTOR and POLYDEUCES [pol-i-dou'seez] or
POLYDEUKES, whose Roman name is POLLUX [pol'luks], were not part of the Trojan saga. They are
known as the DIOSCURI [deye-os'kou-ree] or DIOSKOUROI ("sons of Zeus") and Tyndaridae ("sons of
Tyndareus"). Castor died in a quarrel with the sons of Aphareus, IDAS [eye'das] and LYNCEUS [lin'se-us],
but Zeus allowed Polydeuces to share his immortality so that each brother was on Olympus or in Hades on

54

alternate days. Castor was a horseman, Polydeuces a boxer. As gods they helped sailors, and they were
especially honored at Sparta and at Rome.
Helen and Paris. The most beautiful of women, HELEN had many suitors. She chose MENELAS [mene-lay'us] or MENELAOS as husband and bore HERMIONE [her-meye'o-nee] to him. The other suitors
swore to help Menelas in time of need.
PARIS (also called ALEXANDER or ALEXANDROS), son of Priam and Hecabe (Hecuba), rulers of
Troy, seduced Helen and took her to Troy. To recover her and vindicate Menelas, the Achaeans
(Mycenaean Greeks) raised an expedition to be led by Agamemnon.
Another version says that Helen went to Egypt and spent the ten years of the Trojan War there, while her
phantom went to Troy.
The Judgment of Paris. Paris took Helen as a reward for judging Aphrodite to be more beautiful than Hera
and Athena. All the Olympian gods, except ERIS [er'is], "discord," were invited to the wedding of Peleus
and Thetis (see M/L, Chapter 23). Eris appeared and threw on the table an apple inscribed with "For the
most beautiful," which was claimed by each of the three goddesses. They were brought by Hermes to Paris
on Mt. Ida, where each promised him a reward if he judged her to be the most beautiful.
TROY AND ITS LEADERS AND ALLIES
Apollo and Poseidon built the walls of Troy for King LAOMEDON [lay-om'e-don], who cheated them of
their reward. To punish him, Apollo sent a plague, and Poseidon a sea-monster. Laomedon, obeying an
oracle, exposed his daughter, HESIONE [hee-seye'on-ee], to the monster, but she was saved by Heracles
(see M/L, Chapter 20), whom Laomedon also cheated of his reward. Heracles attacked Troy with an army:
he killed Laomedon and gave Hesione as wife to Teucer.
Priam and Hecuba. Laomedon's son, Podarces, became king of Troy, changing his name to PRIAM
[preye'am]. He had fifty sons and twelve daughters, nineteen of the children by his wife and queen,
HECABE [he'ka-bee], whose Romans name is HECUBA [he'kyou-ba]. Of these Paris and Hector were the
most important.
Paris and Oenone. Before the birth of Paris, Hecabe dreamed that she had given birth to a firebrand that
consumed Troy. She exposed Paris on Mt. Ida, where he survived and became a shepherd. There he was
loved by the nymph OENONE [ee-noh'nee], who had the gift of healing. When Paris was mortally
wounded, she refused to heal him, and after his death she killed herself in remorse. Paris returned to Troy
and was recognized by Priam as his son. In the Trojan War he was saved by Aphrodite from death in single
combat with Menelas, and he killed Achilles by shooting him in the heel with an arrow.
Hector, Andromache, and Astyanax. HECTOR [hek'tor] was the leading Trojan warrior, inferior only to
Achilles, who killed him in single combat. His wife was ANDROMACHE [an-drom'a-kee], who bore him
a son, ASTYANAX [as-teye'a-naks].
Helenus and Dephobus. Two other sons of Priam were HELENUS [hel'e-nus], or HELENOS, and
DEPHOBUS [dee-if'oh-bus], or DEPHOBOS. Helenus was a seer, who was captured by the Greeks and
spared by them. He married Andromache after Hector's death and went with her to Epirus. Dephobus
married Helen after the death of Paris and was killed in the sack of Troy.
Cassandra and Polyxena. Two of Priam's daughters were CASSANDRA [kas-sand'ra], or KASSANDRA,
and POLYXENA [po-lik'se-na]. Cassandra was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo (see M/L, Chapter 9),
who punished her for her refusal of his love with the fate that her prophecies should never be believed. She

55

warned the Trojans in vain of the city's fall and of the deception of the Trojan horse. She went to Mycenae
as part of Agamemnon's spoils and there was killed by Clytemnestra (see M/L, Chapter 16).
Polyxena was sacrificed at the tomb of Achilles after the fall of Troy.
Aeneas and Antenor. Other Trojan leaders who were not sons of Priam were AENEAS [ee-nee'as], or
AINEIAS and ANTENOR [an-teen'or]. Aeneas was son of Aphrodite and Anchises (see M/L, Chapter 7)
and was saved by Poseidon from death in single combat with Achilles. He survived the war and led a band
of survivors to Italy (for his saga see M/L, Chapter 24). Antenor, brother of Hecabe (Hecuba), advised the
Trojans to give Helen back to the Greeks. He and his wife, Theano, were spared at the sack and eventually
came to Italy.
Leading Allies of the Trojans. These were the Lycian princes, GLAUCUS [glaw'kus], or GLAUKOS, and
SARPEDON [sar-pee'don]. Glaucus, son of Hippolochus, exchanged his golden armor for the bronze armor
of Diomedes and was eventually killed by Ajax. Sarpedon was son of Zeus, who could not save him from
death at the hands of Patroclus. Zeus honored him by raining drops of blood and ordering Sleep and Death
to transport his corpse back to Lycia.
Late in the war the Ethiopians, led by MEMNON [mem'non], came to assist the Trojans, as did the
Thracians, led by RHESUS [ree'sus], or RHESOS, and the Amazons, led by PENTHESILEA [pen-thes-ilee'a], or PENTHESILEIA.
THE ACHAEAN LEADERS
Agamemnon and Menelas. AGAMEMNON [ag-a-mem'non], "lord of men," was the leader of the
expedition. He was a lesser warrior than Achilles and less good in council than Odysseus, but he was
greater than both in prestige. His brother, MENELAS [men-e-lay'us], or MENELAOS, had less prestige
and prowess, although he would have killed Paris in single combat if Aphrodite had not saved Paris.
Diomedes. Greater than Agamemnon and Menelaus as a warrior was DIOMEDES [deye-o-mee'deez], son
of Tydeus and king of Argos. Diomedes was favored by Athena, who enabled him to wound even Ares and
Aphrodite in battle. With Odysseus he fetched Achilles from Scyros, before the expedition, and Philoctetes
from Lemnos towards the end of the war. He accompanied Odysseus in the night raid that led to the deaths
of Dolon and Rhesus and the theft from Troy of the Palladium (a statue of Athena that Zeus had cast down
from Olympus: it was the guarantee of the city's survival).
Ajax, the Great or Greater. AJAX [ay'jaks], or AIAS, son of TELAMON [tel'a-mon], was prince of
Salamis and the most stalwart warrior after Achilles. He was the bravest defender of the ships against
Hector's onslaught, and he defended the corpse of Patroclus. He accompanied Odysseus and Phoenix on the
embassy to Achilles and competed with Odysseus in the funeral games for Patroclus and in the claim to the
armor of Achilles.
Ajax, the Less or Lesser. AJAX [ay'jaks] or AIAS, son of OILEUS [o-il'e-us], was prince of Locris and a
leading warrior whose chief role in the saga occurred in the sack of Troy, when he violated Cassandra, who
had taken refuge at the altar of Athena and during the return home.
Idomeneus, King of Crete. IDOMENEUS [eye-dom'en-e-us] was a friend of Menelas and was a leading
warrior and counselor. His principal legend occurs after the fall of Troy.
Nestor, King of Pylos. Two leaders were especially prominent in the councils of war, Odysseus and
NESTOR [nes'tor], son of Neleus and king of Pylos, who had become king after Heracles had sacked Pylos
(see M/L, Chapter 20). He appears in the Iliad as an old and very experienced warrior whose advice,

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usually given at some length, was greatly valued by the younger leaders. His son, Antilochus, was killed by
Memnon, but Nestor himself survived the war.
Odysseus, King of Ithaca. The second great councillor and orator was ODYSSEUS [oh-dis'se-us]
(ULYSSES), son of LAERTES [lay-er'teez]. When the expedition was being gathered, he tried to avoid
service by pretending to be mad, a ruse which was uncovered by PALAMEDES [pa-a-mee'deez]. He rallied
the Achaeans in Book 2 of the Iliad to stay and finish the war, and he asserted the status of the Achaean
leaders by beating the sardonic THERSITES [ther-seye'teez], who had spoken bluntly but inappropriately
in the council of war. He led the embassy to Achilles, and he undertook the night expedition with Diomedes
to take the Palladium from the Trojans. Important as he is in council and in fighting, his major legends
concern the fall of Troy and his return home.
Achilles. Greatest of all the heroes on either side was ACHILLES [a-kil'leez] or ACHILLEUS, son of
Peleus and Thetis and leader of the Myrmidons. He was the swiftest and most handsome of the warriors,
invincible in battle and eloquent in council. His passionate nature caused him to withdraw, which did great
harm to the Achaeans, and when he returned he turned the tide of the war in the Greeks' favor. His mother
had dipped him in the waters of the river Styx to make him invulnerable, so that only his heel (by which
she held him) was vulnerable. The centaur CHIRON [keye'ron] educated Achilles. Thetis tried to keep her
son from going to a war, in which she knew he would die young, by hiding him, disguised as a girl, among
the daughters of LYCOMEDES [leye-ko-mee'deez], or LYKOMEDES, king of the island of Scyros. His
disguise was revealed by Odysseus and Diomedes, and he joined the expedition. On Scyros he loved
DEIDAMIA [dee-i-da-meye'a], or DEIDAMEIA, by whom he was the father of Neoptolemus.
Phoenix and Patroclus. Achilles had as friend and tutor PHOENIX [fee'niks] or PHOINIX (one of the
envoys sent by Agamemnon to persuade Achilles to relent), and his closest friend was PATROCLUS [patro'klus], or PATROKLOS, son of Menoiteus, who had been his companion as a boy. The death of Patroclus
in single combat with Hector was the turning point in the events of the Iliad.
Neoptolemus. Achilles' son, NEOPTOLEMUS [ne-op-tol'e-mus], or NEOPTOLEMOS (known also as
PYRRHUS [pir'rus], or PYRRHOS), joined the Achaeans at Troy after the death of Achilles and played an
important and brutal role in the sack of Troy.
THE GATHERING AT AULIS AND THE ARRIVAL AT TROY
The Achaeans gathered at AULIS [aw'lis], where contrary winds kept them from sailing. The prophet
CALCHAS [kal'kas], or KALCHAS said that Artemis had caused the unfavorable weather and could only
be appeased by the sacrifice of IPHIGENIA [if-i-je-neye'a or if-i-je-nee'a], or IPHIGENEIA. Agamemnon
sacrificed her, favorable winds blew, and the fleet set sail (see M/L, Chapter 16).
At Aulis, Calchas interpreted two omens: an eagle devouring a pregnant hare--an omen symbolic of
Agamemnon's violence--and a snake devouring a bird and her eight fledglings--an omen meaning that the
Achaeans would fight for nine years before capturing Troy in the tenth year.
Philoctetes. At the island of Chryse, during the voyage, PHILOCTETES [fi-lok-tee'teez], or
PHILOKTETES was bitten in the foot by a snake. The wound festered and the Achaeans abandoned him on
Lemnos. Philoctetes was son of Poeas, who had inherited the bow of Heracles, which was necessary (so the
Trojan prisoner, Helenus, told the Greeks) for the capture of Troy. In the last year of the war Odysseus and
Diomedes fetched Philoctetes and his wound was healed by the sons of Asclepius, Podalirius, and
Machaon. With the bow Philoctetes shot and killed Paris.
Telephus. The Greeks also landed in Mysia (an area of Asia Minor), where Achilles wounded the king,
TELEPHUS [tel'e-fus], or TELEPHOS, son of Heracles. Advised by the Delphic oracle, Telephus went in
disguise to the Greek camp at Troy, and there the wound was healed by scrapings from the spear of Achilles
for, said the oracle, "he that wounded shall heal."

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Protesilas and Laodamia. The first Greek to leap ashore at Troy was PROTESILAS [proh-te-si-lay'us],
or PROTESILAOS, who was killed by Hector. Hermes brought back Protesilas from the Underworld to
his wife, LAODAMIA [lay-oh-da-meye'a], or LAODAMEIA, and when he had to return, she killed herself.
THE ILIAD
The events of the first nine years of the war were narrated in epic poems that are no longer extant. The Iliad
is concerned with part of the tenth year. Its theme is "The Wrath of Achilles" (the first words in the poem),
and its events start with the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles in the first book and end with the
ransoming of Hector's corpse by Priam and his burial in the twenty-fourth book.
The Quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon. The quarrel broke out over division of the spoils from
raids on cities in Asia Minor. When Agamemnon had to give back his prisoner, CHRYSES [kreye-see'is],
because of the anger of Apollo (whose priest was the father of Chryses), he took BRISEIS [breye-see'is],
the prisoner of Achilles, in her place, thus insulting and devaluing Achilles in the eyes of the Achaeans.
Achilles withdrew from the fighting, and his mother, Thetis, persuaded Zeus to honor Achilles by allowing
the Trojans to be victorious in his absence.
The Role of the Gods. The gods have a prominent role in the Iliad. Apollo (the first to appear) favors the
Trojans; he helps Hector kill Patroclus and later refreshes the corpse of Hector after it has been dragged
behind the chariot of Achilles. Athena and Hera support the Greeks, and Athena assists Achilles in his final
combat with Hector. Aphrodite protects Paris and compels Helen to make love to him after Aphrodite had
saved him from death at the hands of Menelas. Thetis comforts her son Achilles after his humiliation by
Agamemnon and again after the death of Patroclus, when she obtains new armor for her son from
Hephaestus. She brings the order from Zeus to Achilles to desist from desecrating Hector's corpse and to
give it back to Priam. Hermes escorts Priam through the Achaean camp. On two occasions the gods fight on
the battlefield among themselves, and even are wounded (see above under Diomedes).
The Role of Zeus. Supreme among the gods is Zeus. While he is constantly opposed by Hera (who
deceives him into making love at one point, so that while he is asleep the Greeks may be successful), his
will is supreme. He honors Achilles in response to the complaint of Thetis, and he resists the importuning
of Athena and Hera, who are impatient at the continued success of the Trojans.
Hector and Andromache. In Book 6 Hector returns to Troy from the battlefield and there meets with
Hecabe (Hecuba), with Helen and Paris, and finally with Andromache and their son, Astyanax. His parting
from Andromache brings into sharp focus the loss that the survivors in the defeated city must bear, and it
foreshadows his death and the mourning of Andromache in the last books of the poem.
The Embassy to Achilles. In despair at the Trojan successes, Agamemnon sends Odysseus, Ajax (son of
Telamon), and Phoenix to offer gifts and honor to Achilles in restitution for the dishonor done to him, if he
will return to the fighting. But Achilles refuses.
The Death of Patroclus. The friend of Achilles, Patroclus, persuades Achilles to let him fight in Achilles'
armor as the Trojans reach the Greek ships. He is victorious at first, killing Sarpedon, son of Zeus, but
eventually is killed by Hector, with the help of Apollo. Hector strips the corpse of the armor of Achilles and
puts it on.
The Return of Achilles to Battle. The death of Patroclus drives Achilles to relent; Thetis brings him new
armor made by Hephaestus, including a splendidly decorated shield. He ends the quarrel with Agamemnon
and returns to battle.
Achilles kills countless Trojans and even fights the river-god Scamander, whose flooding waters are
quenched by Hephaestus. Eventually the Trojans are penned into the city.

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Achilles and Hector. The two heroes are left to fight in single combat. Zeus weighs the fate of each in his
golden scales, and Hector is doomed. Achilles kills him with a spear-thrust in his throat.
Each day for twelve days Achilles dragged Hector's corpse behind his chariot round the tomb of
Patroclus. He celebrated funeral games in honor of his dead friend and only relented when Zeus ordered
him, through Thetis, to give up his wrath against Hector and to ransom his body.
Priam and Achilles. Escorted by Hermes, Priam makes his way to the hut of Achilles and there ransoms
Hector. The mutilation of Hector's corpse is perhaps the most extreme example of the passionate and
violent nature of Achilles. Yet Achilles relents with magnanimity in relinquishing the corpse to Priam, who
returns to Troy, and the Iliad ends with the lamentations of Andromache and Helen and the burial of Hector.
THE FALL OF TROY
Events after the end of the Iliad were narrated in epics (now lost) whose summaries survive in tragedies
and in vase-paintings. Book 2 of Vergil's Aeneid is the major source for the sack of Troy itself.
Achilles Against Penthesilea and Memnon. Achilles killed the leaders of contingents that came to assist
the Trojans -- the Amazons, led by Penthesilea and the Ethiopians, led by Memnon, son of Eos (Aurora,
"dawn").
The Death of Achilles. Achilles himself was fatally wounded in the heel by Paris. His corpse was
recovered by Ajax (son of Telamon), and Thetis and her nymphs attended the funeral on the promontory of
Sigeum. The ghost of Achilles conversed with Odysseus when he visited the Underworld. Achilles' ghost
demanded the sacrifice of Polyxena, daughter of Priam, at the tomb. Achilles (so some say) had loved her
and was killed when meeting with her.
The Contest for the Armor of Achilles. Odysseus and the Greater Ajax, son of Telamon, each claimed the
armor of Achilles, speaking to an assembly of Achaeans presided over by Athena. Trojan prisoners said that
Odysseus had done them more harm, and he was awarded the armor. In shame, Ajax killed himself, and
from his blood sprang a flower with AI on its petals (his name in Greek is Aias).
The Arrival of Neoptolemus and Philoctetes. Odysseus captured Helenus (the seer and son of Priam),
who advised the Achaeans to summon Neoptolemus and Philoctetes (see above).
The Wooden Horse. The Achaeans left a wooden horse, built by Epeus, outside the walls of Troy and
sailed away to Tenedos. Inside the horse were the leading warriors. Deceived by the Greek, SINON
[seye'non], the Trojans pulled down part of the city wall to admit the horse, and then at night Sinon let the
Achaean warriors out. Meanwhile the other Greeks sailed back and entered the city.
Cassandra warned against admitting the horse and was not believed. The priest of Apollo, LAOCON
[lay-o'koh-on], son of Antenor, hurled his spear at the horse and said it should be destroyed. The Trojans
ignored his warning also, and watched as two serpents came from the sea and throttled Laocon and his
two sons.
The Fall of Troy. The Greeks sacked the city and killed its male inhabitants. Of the Trojan leaders, Antenor
was spared, and Aeneas escaped. Priam was butchered by Neoptolemus, and Hector's infant son, Astyanax,
was thrown from the walls. Andromache became the slave of Neoptolemus (see above, and M/L, Chapter
16). Cassandra was raped by the Lesser Ajax, son of Oileus, in the temple of Athena, where she had sought
the protection of the goddess, and was given as a slave to Agamemnon, who took her back to Mycenae,
where she was killed by Clytemnestra (see M/L, Chapter 16).

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The Fate of Hecabe (Hecuba). Hecabe began the voyage back to Greece as the slave of Odysseus. On the
way she landed in Thrace and found the corpse of her son, Polydorus [po-li-dor'us], murdered by the local
king, POLYMESTOR [pol-i-mes'tor]. She revenged herself by luring Polymestor and his children into her
tent, where she murdered his children and blinded him. She turned into a bitch and her burial place (in
Thrace) was called Cynossema, "the dog's tomb."
The Flight of Aeneas. Aeneas, protected by his mother, Aphrodite, escaped, taking with him his son,
ASCANIUS [as-kan'i-us], or ASKANIOS (IULUS), and his father, ANCHISES [an-keye'seez]. His wife,
CREUSA [kre-ou'sa], or KREOUSA, disappeared in the escape. He led a group of survivors, men and
women, on the voyage away from Asia, eventually reaching Italy, where he established himself and made
possible the eventual founding of Rome (see M/L, Chapter 24).

CHAPTER 18: THE RETURNS

The returns from Troy of the Achaean heroes, other than Odysseus, were narrated in a lost epic called
Nostoi [nos'toy], "Returns." The return of Odysseus is the subject of Homer's Odyssey.
THE NOSTOI (RETURNS)

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Ajax, the Lesser (Son of Oileus) and Agamemnon. Athena raised a storm in the Aegean in anger at the
sacrilege of Ajax, son of Oileus, during the sack of Troy (see M/L, Chapter 17). The storm wrecked much
of Agamemnon's fleet (with which Ajax was sailing), and Ajax, who boasted of his escape from drowning,
was killed by Poseidon with his trident. A second storm struck the fleet, wrecking many more ships on the
coast of Euboea. Agamemnon finally reached Mycenae, where he was murdered by Clytemnestra and
Aegisthus (see M/L, Chapter 16).
Menelas. Menelas reached Egypt after losing five ships in another storm. The sea-god, Proteus, told him
how to appease the gods and sail back safely to Greece. The visit of Menelas to Egypt fits with the legend
(see M/L, Chapter 17) that Helen spent the years of the war in Egypt, while her phantom went to Troy.
Seven years after the fall of Troy, Menelas and Helen reached Sparta safely and resumed their former life
together. At his death Menelas was transported to Elysium (rather than Hades), because, as the husband of
the immortal Helen, he was the son-in-law of Zeus.
Nestor, Diomedes, and Philoctetes. Of the other Peloponnesian leaders, Nestor returned to Pylos safely.
Diomedes, who had wounded Aphrodite at Troy, returned to Argos to find that the goddess had caused his
wife, Aegialia, to be unfaithful. He left Argos and came to Italy, where he founded several cities.
Philoctetes returned to Thessaly and also was driven out by his people. He too went to Italy and founded
several cities. The stories of Diomedes, Idomeneus, and Philoctetes seem to be connected with the
foundation of Greek colonies in Italy (the first at Cumae in 732 B.C.).
Idomeneus. Idomeneus returned to Crete to find that his wife, Meda, had been unfaithful with Leucus, who
then murdered her and her daughter and made himself king over ten cities. Leucus drove out Idomeneus,
who went to Italy. Another story of the exile of Idomeneus is that he vowed to Poseidon that he would
sacrifice the first living thing that came to meet him if he returned home safely. His son was the first to
meet him, and Idomeneus sacrificed him. In punishment for the killing, the gods sent a plague on the
Cretans, who drove Idomeneus out.
Neoptolemus. Neoptolemus went by land back to Phthia with Helenus and Andromache (see M/L,
Chapters 16 and 17). With them and his wife, Hermione, he went to Epirus as king of the Molossi. He was
killed at Delphi and was honored there with a hero-cult.
THE RETURN OF ODYSSEUS (THE ODYSSEY, BOOKS 1-12)
The return of Odysseus (Ulysses) is narrated in the Odyssey. It was delayed for ten years by the anger of
Poseidon. When, after many adventures, he reached his home, he found his wife, PENELOPE [pe-nel'ohpee], hard pressed by many suitors, who were ruining his property and plotting to kill his son,
TELEMACHUS [te-lem'a-kus], or TELEMACHOS. Odysseus killed them all and was reunited with
Penelope, resuming his rule over Ithaca.
The Mini-Odyssey of Telemachus. In the first four books of the Odyssey Telemachus, helped by Athena,
went to Pylos and Sparta to find out news of Odysseus from Nestor, Menelas and Helen. On his return he
avoided an ambush set by the suitors.
Calypso. Odysseus, meanwhile, had been living for seven years on the island of Ogygia with the nymph
CALYPSO [ka-lip'soh], or KALYPSO, daughter of Atlas. He refused her offer to make him immortal, and
she was ordered by Zeus, through his messenger, Hermes, to release him. She helped him build a raft, and
he sailed away towards Ithaca.
The Phaeacians and Princess Nausica. His raft was wrecked by Poseidon near the island of Scheria,
home of the PHAEACIANS [fee-ay'shi-anz], or PHAIAKIANS. Helped by Leucothea (a sea-goddess, once
the Theban princess Ino), he reached land, where he was helped by the princess NAUSICA [naw-sik'a-a],
daughter of King ALCINOS [al-sin'o-us], or ALKINOOS, and Queen Arete. The Phaeacians were
seafarers living a peaceful and prosperous life, and the splendid palace of Alcinos was equipped with gold

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and silver guard-dogs (made by Hephaestus) and with fifty golden torch-bearers in human form. The
women were skilled weavers, and outside the palace were beautiful gardens and orchards. Odysseus
appealed to Arete for help, and Alcinos honored him with a banquet at which the bard, DEMODOCUS
[de-mod'o-kus], or DEMODOKOS, sang of the love of Ares and Aphrodite and the revenge of Hephaestus
(see M/L, Chapter 3). Then he sang of the wooden horse and the sack of Troy, at which Odysseus wept.
Invited by Alcinos, he told his story.
Maron of Ismarus. When he and his companions left Troy, they sacked the Thracian city of Ismarus, or
Ismaros, sparing the priest of Apollo, Maron, who gave them twelve jars of wine.
The Lotus-Eaters. Then they sailed to the land of the lotus-eaters, where whoever ate of the fruit of the
lotus forgot everything else and only wished to stay, eating lotus-fruit. Yet Odysseus managed to leave with
his men.
The Cyclopes and Polyphemus. They sailed to the island of the CYCLOPES [seye-kloh'peez], or
KYKLOPES, one-eyed giant herdsmen living in caves. Odysseus and twelve companions waited in the
cave of the CYCLOPS [seye'klops], or KYKLOPS, POLYPHEMUS [po-li-fee'mus], or POLYPHEMOS,
son of Poseidon, who returned from his herding in the evening and ate two of Odysseus' men; he ate four
more the next day. Odysseus gave Polyphemus some of Maron's wine and told him that his name was
"Nobody" (in Greek, Outis). Then, while Polyphemus lay in a drunken sleep, Odysseus and his companions
drove a heated wooden pole into his eye. When the other Cyclopes, hearing the cries of Polyphemus, came
to the cave (which was closed by a huge rock) to ask what was wrong, he cried out, "Nobody is killing me,"
and they left.
Next morning Odysseus tied each man to the undersides of three sheep and himself clung to the belly of
the biggest ram. Thus, as the blinded Cyclops felt the sheep when he let them out of the cave (having
removed the rock), he could not discover the men, and so they escaped and went back to their ship. As they
sailed away, Odysseus shouted out his real name, and Polyphemus tore off part of a mountain and nearly
wrecked the ship when he threw it. He prayed to Poseidon for vengeance on Odysseus, asking that if he did
return home it would be after many years, alone, in distress, and upon another's ship, and that he would find
trouble at home. This was the source of the anger of Poseidon, who granted his son's prayer.
Aeolus. Odysseus sailed to the island of AEOLUS [ee'o-lus], or AIOLOS, who gave him a bag holding all
the winds and showed him how to release the wind favorable for his return. But just as he was in sight of
Ithaca, he fell asleep, and his men opened the bag. All the winds rushed out and blew them back to Aeolus,
who refused to help them any more.
The Laestrygonians. Next they came to the land of the LAESTRYGONIANS [les-tri-goh'ni-anz], or
LAISTRYGONIANS, who sank all the ships except one and ate the crews.
Circe. With the surviving ship Odysseus sailed to Aeaea, home of CIRCE [sir'see], or KIRKE, daughter of
Helius, the Sun. She transformed Odysseus' crew into pigs, but Odysseus himself, warned by Hermes, used
the herb moly as an antidote to Circe's charms and forced her to change his men into human form once
more. He lived with Circe for one year and she bore him a son, TELEGONUS [te-leg'o-nus], or
TELEGONOS. Circe eventually let him go, and he sailed to the Underworld, to consult Tiresias.
The Book of the Dead. In the "The Book of the Dead" (Book 11 of the Odyssey), Odysseus went to the
entrance to the Underworld and there talked with many spirits of the dead, primarily with Tiresias, who
foretold the difficulties yet remaining on his journey and at his return, and foretold also the events of the
rest of his life and the manner of his death. Odysseus spoke with Agamemnon, Achilles, Ajax (son of
Telamon), his mother ANTICLEA [an-ti-klay'a or an-ti-kleye'a], or ANTIKLEIA, and he saw many other
heroines.

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The Sirens. Having returned to Aeaea, Odysseus sailed to meet the dangers of which Circe warned him.
First were the Sirens, winged monsters with women's heads, who by their song lured sailors onto the rocks.
Odysseus sailed past them by stuffing his men's ears with wax and having himself lashed to the mast.
The Planctae and Scylla and Charybdis. Then he avoided the PLANCTAE [plank'tee], or PLANKTAI
("wandering rocks"), by sailing close to CHARYBDIS [ka-rib'dis], who sucked in the water of the strait
three times daily and spouted it up again, and to SCYLLA [sil'la], or SKYLLA (daughter of Phorcys), who
snatched six sailors and ate them. Scylla had been changed into a monster through the jealousy of
Poseidon's wife, Amphitrite (see M/L, Chapter 5).
The Cattle of Helius. Odysseus next sailed to Thrinacia, where Helius pastured his cattle. Again he fell
asleep, and his men disobeyed his orders not to touch the cattle and killed some of them for food. In
response to Helius' complaint, Zeus raised a storm which sank the ship, leaving Odysseus as the sole
survivor. Once again escaping the dangers of Charybdis, Odysseus drifted to Ogygia.
The Phaeacians Bring Odysseus to Ithaca. After he had related his adventures to the Phaeacians,
Odysseus was conveyed by them to Ithaca, where they put him on shore asleep, with the gifts they had
given him. To punish the Phaeacians for helping Odysseus, Poseidon turned their ship into stone as it
entered the harbor at Scheria.
THE HOMECOMING OF ODYSSEUS (THE ODYSSEY, BOOKS 13-24)
The second half of the Odyssey (Books 13-24) narrates how Odysseus returned to his palace, killed the
suitors, and was recognized and reunited with Penelope, and how he resumed his rule over Ithaca.
Eumaeus, Telemachus, and Irus. Athena helped Odysseus when he woke up after being put ashore. He
was recognized by the swineherd, EUMAEUS [you-mee'us], or EUMAIOS, and by Telemachus. Together
they devised the plan for his entry, disguised as a beggar, into the palace, where he was insulted by the
suitors and challenged to a fight (which he won) by the beggar, IRUS [eye'rus], or IROS.
Penelope's Web. Penelope was on the verge of having to choose a suitor as husband, for the suitors had
discovered the ruse by which she had put off her choice. By day she would work on weaving a cloak to be a
burial shroud for Laertes, father of Odysseus, and by night she would unravel her work.
Penelope and the Beggar Odysseus. After the fight with Irus, she spoke with Odysseus (still in disguise),
who gave an exact description of himself. Encouraged by this, Penelope told him of her plan to give herself
next day to the man who could string the bow of Odysseus and shoot it through twelve axe heads.
Euryclea. Odysseus was bathed by his nurse, EURYCLEA [you-ri-klee'a], or EURYKLEIA, who
recognised him from a scar caused by a boar's tusk, but he prevented her from revealing his identity to
Penelope.
The Contest of the Bow and the Battle in the Hall. Next day, when the suitors had failed even to string the
bow, Odysseus did it effortlessly and shot the arrow through the axe heads. Then, helped by Telemachus
and Eumaeus, he killed all the suitors after a battle in the hall, and he hanged the twelve maidservants who
had been the suitors' lovers.
Penelope and Odysseus Reunited. Still Penelope would not admit to recognizing him, until he revealed
the secret of the construction of their bed, known only to him and Penelope. Then they were reunited in
love and told each other of their patience and adventures over the twenty years of his absence.

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The Triumph of Odysseus. The next day, Odysseus made himself known to his father Laertes, and Athena
brought peace between him and the families of the dead suitors, whose spirits went to the Underworld and
there talked with Agamemnon's ghost.
ODYSSEUS' FURTHER TRAVELS AND DEATH
Tiresias foretold the rest of Odysseus' life. He had to leave Ithaca once more, carrying an oar, traveling until
he came to a people who did not know of the sea or ships. When a man would say that he had a winnowingfan on his shoulder, he was to plant the oar in the ground and offer a sacrifice to Poseidon and all the gods.
Then he would return to Ithaca, and death would come to him easily from the sea in his old age.
All this came to pass. Odysseus appeased Poseidon and lived out his life in Ithaca. Years later he was
accidentally killed by Telegonus, who had come to Ithaca in search of his father.

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CHAPTER 19: PERSEUS AND THE LEGENDS OF ARGOS

Argos, Mycenae, and Tiryns are close geographically and in the sagas confused. Argos itself was associated
with Thebes and Corinth, and its myths reflect its contacts with the Levant and Egypt.
HERA, POSEIDON, AND PHORONEUS
Argos was the most important center on the Greek mainland for the worship of Hera. Its founder,
PHORONEUS [for-roh'ne-us], decided in favor of Hera in her contest with Poseidon for divine patronage
of Argos. In anger, Poseidon dried up the Argive rivers, including INACHUS [in'ak-us], or INACHOS,
father of Phoroneus. Argive rivers since then have always been short of water.
PERSEUS
Abas had twin sons, Proetus (who became king of Tiryns) and ACRISIUS [a-kris'i-us], or AKRISIOS (who
ruled Argos). An oracle foretold that the son of DANA [da'na-ee], the only child of Acrisius, would kill
her father. Acrisius shut her up in an underground chamber, but Zeus laid with her, entering in the form of a
shower of gold. Their child was PERSEUS [pers'e-us], whom Acrisius discovered after four years from the
noise the child made by playing. He placed Dana and Perseus into a chest which he put into the sea. It
floated to Seriphos, where it was found by DICTYS [dik'tis], or DIKTYS (brother of POLYDECTES [poli-dek'teez], or POLYDEKTES], king of Seriphos), who rescued Dana and her son and gave them shelter in
his home.
Meanwhile, Polydectes loved Dana, who refused him. He ordered the men of Seriphos (including
Perseus, now grown) each to give him a horse. When Perseus said, "I can as easily give you the Gorgon's
head," Polydectes ordered him to perform this task, expecting to get rid of them.
The Graeae and the Nymphs. Hermes and Athena advised Perseus how to perform the task, telling him
first to go to the three GRAEAE [gree'ee or greye'eye], or GRAIAI (daughters of Phorcys and Ceto,
children of Pontus and Ge) and sisters of the Gorgons, who between them had but one eye and one tooth.
Perseus got hold of the eye and tooth, and gave them back only when they told him the way to certain
(unnamed) Nymphs who possessed three magic objects. From the Nymphs Perseus obtained a Cap of
Invisibility, a pair of winged sandals, and a bag (kibisis [ki'bi-sis]). Hermes gave him a scimitar.
The Gorgons and the Beheading of Medusa. Thus equipped, he flew to the GORGONS [gor'gonz], who
lived on the edge of the world (usually located in North Africa or in the far north, in the land of the
Hyperboreans). Two of the Gorgons (STHENO [sthen'oh] and EURYALE [you-reye'a-lee]) were immortal:
the third, MEDUSA [me-dou'sa], or MEDOUSA, was mortal. Those who looked on their faces were turned
to stone. Guided by Athena, Perseus, looking at the Gorgon's reflection in his shield, beheaded Medusa and
put her head in the kibisis.
Medusa had been loved by Poseidon, and from her body sprang their children, CHRYSAOR [kreyesay'or], "Golden Sword," and the winged horse, PEGASUS [peg'a-sus], or PEGASOS. Chrysaor became
father of Geryon (see M/L, Chapter 20), and Pegasus played an important role in the saga of Bellerophon
(see M/L, Chapter 23). When the hoof of Pegasus struck Mt. Helicon (in Boeotia) the fountain
HIPPOCRENE [hip-po-kree'nee], or HIPPOKRENE, "Horse's Fountain," gushed forth; it was sacred to the
Muses and associated with poetic inspiration.
Athena invented the flute for Medusa, imitating the lament of the two surviving Gorgons, Stheno and
Euryale.

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Atlas. Perseus, wearing the Cap of Invisibility, escaped from the Gorgons and began his flight back to
Seriphos. Medusa's blood dripped through the kibisis as he flew over Libya, and from it sprang the
poisonous snakes that were said to infest Libya. The Titan Atlas, who supported the heavens (see M/L,
Chapter 2), refused hospitality to Perseus, who turned him into stone, now the Atlas range of mountains.
When Perseus came down to the seashore to bathe his hands in the sea, the seaweed upon which he placed
the kibisis hardened into coral.
Andromeda. Flying past the coast of the Levant (or, some say, Ethiopia, that is, the part of Africa lying to
the south of Egypt), Perseus saw a young woman chained to a rock, threatened by a sea-monster. She was
ANDROMEDA [an-drom'e-da], daughter of King CEPHEUS [seef'e-us], or KEPHEUS and Queen
CASSIEPEA [kas-si-e-pee'a], or KASSIEPEIA. Cassiepea had boasted that she was more beautiful than the
Nereids, and Poseidon punished her pride by flooding the kingdom of Cepheus and sending the seamonster to ravage it. The oracle of Zeus, Ammon, told Cepheus that he could only appease the monster by
chaining his daughter to the rock. Perseus killed the monster with the scimitar of Hermes and was rewarded
with Andromeda as his wife.
Phineus. Since Andromeda was already betrothed to PHINEUS [feyen'e-us], her uncle, Perseus had to
assert his claim by fighting Phineus and his followers, all of whom he turned to stone with the Gorgon's
head. The fight between Perseus and Phineus was described by Ovid as a full-scale battle in the dining-hall
(like that of Odysseus) in Metamorphoses 5.1-209, narrated at great length and with much ingenuity.
The Return. Perseus and Andromeda flew back to Seriphos, leaving a son, Perses, to inherit the kingdom
of Cepheus.
At Seriphos Perseus found Dana and Dictys being threatened by Polydectes, whom he turned to stone.
Leaving Dictys as king, he returned to Argos with Andromeda and Dana (whom he had released), and
gave the winged sandals, the kibisis, and the Cap of Invisibility to Hermes (who returned them to the
Nymphs), along with the scimitar. To Athena he gave the Gorgon's head, which she placed in the middle of
her aegis or shield.
The Killing of Acrisius. Acrisius fled from Argos to Larissa (a city in Thessaly) to avoid Perseus. Perseus
followed him there and took part in funeral games being celebrated for Abas, father of Acrisius. In the
discus-throw, his discus accidentally killed Acrisius, and so the prophecy of the oracle was fulfilled.
Perseus, as the killer of his grandfather, could not return to Argos and went to Tiryns, where he became
king, exchanging his kingdom with the king of Tiryns, Megapenthes. He founded Mycenae, and from him
and Andromeda descended the kings of Mycenae in the generations before the family of Atreus. From them
also descended Heracles and Eurystheus (see M/L, Chapter 20).
THE FAMILY OF INACHUS
Inachus, Io, and Epaphus. Inachus, father of Phoroneus (see above), was son of Oceanus and Tethys and
is sometimes said to be the founder of Argos. He gave his name also to the river Inachus. His daughter was
IO [eye'oh] (see M/L, Chapter 2), who was loved by Zeus and changed into a cow, resuming her human
form when she came in her wanderings to Egypt, where she gave birth to Epaphus. Hera persuaded the
Curetes to kidnap EPAPHUS [ep'a-fus], or EPAPHOS, and Io, after searching through many lands, found
him in Syria. After her return to Egypt she was worshiped as the goddess Isis (see M/L, Chapter 14).
Epaphus and his Descendants. Epaphus was identified by the Egyptians with the sacred bull, Apis. In the
mythology of Argos, a son of Phoroneus was also called Apis, from whom came the ancient name for the
Peloponnese, Apia.

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The daughter of Epaphus was Libya (from whom the geographical Libya is named), whose twin sons
were Agenor and Belus. Agenor, who became the ruler of Phoenicia, was father of Cadmus and Europa (see
M/L, Chapter 15), while Belus ruled in Egypt.
Aegyptus and Danas and the Danads. The sons of Belus were AEGYPTUS [ee-jip'tus], or AIGYPTOS
and DANAS [dan'a-us], or DANAOS, who quarreled. Danas left Egypt and came to Argos, where he
became king: his subjects were called Dana, which is one of the names that Homer uses for the Greeks.
The fifty sons of Aegyptus demanded the fifty daughters of Danas (DANADS [dan'aidz]) in marriage; on
their wedding night, forty-nine Danads stabbed their husbands with daggers given them for the purpose by
Danas, and for this were punished in the Underworld by having to fill perforated water-jars. The fiftieth,
HYPERMNESTRA [hi-perm-nes'tra] spared her husband LYNCEUS [lins'e-us], and from them descended
Abas, the great-grandfather of Perseus.
Amymone and Poseidon. The Danad AMYMONE [a-meye'moh-nee] was loved by Poseidon, who with
his trident caused water to gush from a rock: this is the spring, Amymone. Their son was Nauplius, founder
of Nauplia and father of Palamedes. Nauplius, to avenge his son's death at the hands of Odysseus, caused
many ships of the Greek fleet to be wrecked on the rocks of Euboea during the return voyage from Troy
(see M/L, Chapter 18).
Other Argive heroes were Melampus (see M/L, Chapter 23) and the five Argives among the Seven
against Thebes -- Adrastus, Amphiaraus, Capaneus, Hippomedon, and Tydeus (see M/L, Chapter 15). The
son of Tydeus was Diomedes, a leading Greek hero in the Trojan War (see M/L, Chapter 17).

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CHAPTER 20: HERACLES

HERACLES [her'a-klees], or HERAKLES (HERCULES), the most popular of Greek heroes, is associated
especially with the area around Argos and with Thebes, where he was born.
AMPHITYON AND ALCMENA
ELECTRYON [e-lek'tri-on] ELEKTRYON, son of Perseus and king of Mycenae, fought with Pterelas,
king of the Teleboans. Electryon planned to attack the Teleboans, who had retreated to their land in western
Greece taking his cattle. He also planned to leave his nephew, AMPHITRYON [am-fi'tri-on], as king in his
place, and he betrothed his daughter, ALCMENA [alk-mee'na], or ALKMENE, to him.
Amphitryon accidentally killed Electryon and left Mycenae to go into exile at Thebes, taking Alcmena
with him. She would not lie with him until he had attacked the Teleboans and avenged her brothers, whom
they had killed in the earlier war.
Amphitryon returned victorious to find that Alcmena had already lain with Zeus in the same night. She
conceived twins, Heracles, son of Zeus, and IPHICLES [if'i-kleez], or IPHIKLES, son of Amphitryon.
THE BIRTH AND YOUTH OF HERACLES
Hera, angry with Zeus, sent Eileithyia to delay the birth of Alcmena's twins and hasten the birth of
EURYSTHEUS [you-ris'the-us], child of Sthenelus, grandson of Zeus and king of Mycenae. The prophecy
of Zeus, that the child of his blood to be born that day would rule over those that lived around him, was
fulfilled by Eurystheus, for whom Heracles performed his labors.
After the birth of Heracles, which took place when a servant of Alcmena tricked Eileithyia into relaxing
her guard, Hera sent a pair of snakes to kill the twins. Heracles strangled them, and Tiresias, summoned by
Amphitryon, foretold how Heracles would go on to perform great labors for humankind and finally join the
gods on Olympus.
Heracles was taught chariot driving, wrestling, archery and music by various heroes. He killed LINUS
[leye'nus], or LINOS, his music teacher, by striking him with his lyre.
For this murder he was exiled to Mt. Cithaeron on the borders of Boeotia, where he saved the town of
Thespiae from the ravages of a lion and freed the Thebans from paying tribute to the people of
Orchomenus. Creon, king of Thebes, gave him his daughter, MEGARA [meg'a-ra], as wife.
THE MADNESS OF HERACLES
After Megara had borne several children to Heracles, he killed her and the children in a fit of madness
caused by Hera. He enquired at Delphi how he might expiate his crime; the Pythia first called him Heracles

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("Glory of Hera") rather than by his usual name, ALCIDES [al-seye'deez], or ALKIDES, "Grandson of
Alcaeus," and told him to serve Eurystheus, king of Tiryns, for twelve years, performing the labors that he
would impose.
THE TWELVE LABORS (ATHLOI)
The Greek word for the labors is athloi, i.e., contests for a prize, which for Heracles was immortality. The
first six of the labors were undertaken in the Peloponnese, and the other six elsewhere. Associated with
them are incidental or subsequent exploits, known as parerga, "incidental deeds" (parergon in the singular).
1. The Nemean Lion. Heracles killed a lion at NEMEA [nem'e-a] by means of a club, skinning it by using
the animal's own claws. Henceforth he carried the club and wore the lionskin, his two most prominent
attributes in art.
2. The Lernaean Hydra. A nine-headed serpent or HYDRA [heye'dra] lived in the marshes of LERNA
[ler'na]. Each time Heracles clubbed a head, two more grew in its place, while Hera sent a crab to make
things even more difficult. Helped by his nephew, IOLAS [i-o-lay'us] or IOLAOS, Heracles killed both
monsters and dipped his arrows in the Hydra's poison. The crab became the constellation Cancer.
3. The Cerynean Hind. A hind with golden horns, sacred to Artemis, lived on Mt. CERYNEA [se-ri-nee'a]
or KERYNEIA. After pursuing it for a year, Heracles caught it and carried it back alive to Eurystheus and
then released it. Pindar says that Heracles went to the land of the Hyperboreans to find the animal.
4. The Erymanthian Boar. Heracles brought back to Eurystheus the monstrous boar that lived on Mt.
ERYMANTHOS [er-i-man'thus] or ERYMANTHOS.
5. The Augean Stables. Heracles cleaned the stables of AUGEAS [aw-jee'as or aw'jee-as], son of Helius
and king of Elis, who kept vast herds of cattle. Helped by Athena, he diverted the rivers Alpheus and
Peneus so that they flowed through the stables.
6. The Stymphalian Birds. Heracles shot the birds that lived beside lake STYMPHALUS [stim'fal-us] or
STYMPHALOS in Arcadia.
7. The Cretan Bull. Heracles caught the bull that the Cretan king, MINOS [meye'nos], had failed to
sacrifice to Poseidon. After bringing it back from Crete alive, he released it, and it came to Marathon,
where Theseus caught it (see M/L, Chapter 21).
8. The Mares of Diomedes. The Thracian king DIOMEDES [deye-o-mee'deez], son of Ares, owned a herd
of mares that ate human flesh. He brought them back to Eurystheus, who released them and dedicated them
to Hera.
9. The Girdle of Hippolyta. Heracles killed HIPPOLYTA [hip-pol'i-ta], queen of the Amazons, in battle
and brought her girdle back to Eurystheus.
10. The Cattle of Geryon. Heracles brought back the cattle of GERYON [jer'i-on or ger'i-on]] from
Erythia, a land far away in the west. He sailed there in a cup given him by Helius and killed Geryon (who
had three bodies) and his herdsman, EURYTION [you-rit'i-on], and hound (Orthrus) and drove the cattle
back to Greece.
11. The Apples of the Hesperides. Heracles needed the help of Athena and Atlas to get the apples of the
HESPERIDES [hes-per'i-deez], "daughters of night"), which they guarded in a garden far to the west;
around the apple tree was coiled the serpent LADON [lay'don]. The many-formed sea-god, Nereus, first
had to be held by Heracles before he would divulge the location of the garden. While Euripides says that

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Heracles killed Ladon and took the apples himself, usually he is said to have held up the heavens, with the
aid of Athena, while the Titan Atlas fetched the apples. After shifting the heavens back to the shoulders of
Atlas, he brought the apples back to Eurystheus. Later Athena took them back to the garden of the
Hesperides.
12. Cerberus. The final labor was to go to the Underworld and bring back the three-headed hound of
Hades, CERBERUS [ser'ber-us] or KERBEROS. Heracles himself said (in the Odyssey) that this was the
hardest labor. He brought Cerberus back to Eurystheus and then returned him to Hades.
PARERGA (INCIDENTAL DEEDS)
The Centaurs. As a parergon to the fourth labor, Heracles was attacked by the centaurs while he was
drinking wine with the centaur PHOLUS [foh'lus], or PHOLOS. He defeated them, but the immortal
centaur, CHIRON [keye'ron], was wounded by one of the poisoned arrows and only ended his suffering by
exchanging his immortality with Prometheus (see M/L, Chapter 2). Pholus died when he dropped one of
the poisoned arrows on his hoof.
The Olympic Games. After cleaning the Augean stables, Heracles, cheated of his promised reward (one
tenth of the cattle) by Augeas, returned with an army and killed Augeas. After this victory he instituted the
Olympic Games in the territory of Elis (they were actually founded several centuries after the supposed
time of Heracles).
Admetus and Alcestis. On his way to Thrace for his eighth labor Heracles was entertained by ADMETUS
[ad-mee'tus], or ADMETOS, king of Pherae, who was mourning the death of his wife, ALCESTIS [alses'tis], or ALKESTIS. Heracles wrestled with Death (Thanatos) and recovered Alcestis for her husband
(see M/L, Chapter 9).
Hesione. Coming back from his ninth labor, Heracles rescued HESIONE [hee-seye'o-nee] from the seamonster at Troy (see M/L, Chapter 17). When the king, LAOMEDON [lay-o'me-don], cheated him of his
reward, he returned with an army, sacked Troy, and replaced Laomedon with PRIAM [preye'am], who had
been called Podarces.
Pillars of Heracles. As a monument of his journey to Geryon's island, Heracles set up the Pillars of
Heracles at the straits where the Mediterranean sea meets the Atlantic ocean.
Cacus. On his overland journey back he was attacked by the Ligurians (in southern France) and was helped
by Zeus to drive them off. At Pallanteum (on the site of Rome, see M/L, Chapter 24) he was entertained by
king Evander and killed the fire-breathing monster, CACUS [ka'kus], or KAKOS, "evil one."
Eryx. Crossing the straits to Sicily he wrestled with ERYX [er'iks], king of the western tip of the island,
and killed him.
Alcyoneus. Lastly, at the Isthmus of Corinth he killed the giant ALCYONEUS [al-seye-on'e-us] or
ALKYONEUS.
Echidna and Scythes. According to Herodotus, Geryon lived in the far north, where Heracles lay with
ECHIDNA [e-kid'na], "snake-woman," who bore him SCYTHES [seye'theez], or SKYTHES and two other
sons. As a young man Scythes, alone of the three, could string a bow left behind by Heracles, and he
became king and ancestor of the Scythians.
Busiris. Journeying to the Garden of the Hesperides, Heracles killed the murderous king of Egypt,
BUSIRIS [bou-seye'ris].

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Antaeus. In Libya he wrestled with ANTAEUS [an-tee'us], or ANTAIOS, son of Ge and Poseidon, who
could not be beaten so long as he kept contact with the earth, his mother. Heracles held him aloft until he
had crushed him to death.
Prometheus. On this journey also it was said that he came to the Caucasus and there released
PROMETHEUS [proh-mee'the-us]. See Centaurs above, and M/L, Chapter 2.
Theseus, Pirithos, and Meleager. In Hades Heracles saw THESEUS [thee'se-us] and PIRITHOS
[peye-rith'oh-us], or PIRITHOS, chained fast to stone seats and released Theseus. He saw the ghost of
MELEAGER [me-le-ay'jer] (see M/L, Chapter 23), whose sister, DEANIRA [dee-ya-neye'ra], or
DEANEIRA, he offered to marry.
OTHER DEEDS OF HERACLES
The robbers Cycnus and Syleus. Helped by Athena and Iolas, Heracles killed the Thessalian robber
CYCNUS [sik'nus] or KYKNOS, son of Ares, and near the Straits of Euboea he killed another robber,
SYLEUS [sil'e-us].
The Cercopes. This pair of mischievous dwarfs, the CERCOPES [ser-koh'peez], or KERKOPES, tried to
steal the weapons of Heracles, who caught them and slung them upside down from a pole across his
shoulders. They laughed so much at the sight of his buttocks, burned black by the sun, that he let them go.
Later they were turned by Zeus into apes (or stones).
The Argonautic Expedition and Hylas. Heracles was one of the Argonauts who sailed with Jason (see
M/L, Chapter 22), but at Cios he left the ship to search for his companion HYLAS [heye'las], who had been
abducted by the water-nymphs. The Argo sailed on without him, and he instituted a cult of Hylas at Cios.
Expedition against Pylos. Besides the expeditions against Augeas and Laomedon, Heracles led an army
against NELEUS [neel'e-us], king of Pylos, whom he killed along with eleven of his twelve sons. He left as
king the survivor, NESTOR [nes'tor], who was a prominent Greek hero in the Trojan War (see M/L,
Chapter 17). In the battle at Pylos, Heracles is said to have wounded the gods Hades and Hera, and Apollo
and Poseidon are said to have driven him back from the city. He attacked Hippocon, king of Sparta, who
had helped Neleus.
Auge and Telephus. During his journey back to Tiryns, he lay with AUGE [aw'jee] at Tegea. Their son,
TELEPHUS [tel'e-fus] or TELEPHOS, was put in a chest by her father and floated over the Aegean to Asia
Minor. There Telephus became king and ancestor of the Mysians (see M/L, Chapter 17).
DEIANIRA AND IOLE
In Hades during his last Labor, Heracles had promised Meleager that he would marry his sister, DEANIRA
[dee-ya-neye'ra], or DEANEIRA (sometimes spelled in English Dejanira). To win her he wrestled with the
river-god ACHELOS (ak-e-loh'us] or ACHELOS, who also wished to marry her. As a river-god,
Achelos could turn himself into different creatures. He had bull's horns on his head, one of which was
broken off in the fight and became (or was exchanged with) the miraculous cornucopia (in Latin, cornu
copiae, "horn of plenty"), said also to have been the horn of Amalthea, the goat who suckled the infant Zeus
on Crete (see M/L, Chapter 1).
Nessus. On the way back to Tiryns with Deanira, Heracles came to the river Evenus, which was in spate.
The centaur NESSUS [nes'sus], or NESSOS carried Deanira over and, before Heracles could cross,
attempted to violate her. Heracles shot him with his bow, and as Nessus lay dying, he told Deanira to
collect some of his blood and keep it, for, he said, it would prevent Heracles from loving any other woman

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more than Deanira. She collected the blood and kept it out of the sunlight. She did not know that the arrow
that killed Nessus had been dipped in the poison of the Hydra.
Iole. Deanira bore Heracles a son, HYLLUS [heyel'lus], or HYLLOS, and a daughter, MACARIA [makar'i-a] or MAKARIA. Later he fell in love with IOLE [eye'o-lee], daughter of EURYTUS [your'i-tus], or
EYRYTOS, king of Oechalia (a city on the island of Euboea), who had taught Heracles archery. Eurytus
would not give her to Heracles, even though he won an archery contest to decide who should have her as
wife or concubine. Later the brother of Iole, IPHITUS [if'i-tus] or IPHITOS, came to Tiryns, and there
Heracles threw him from the acropolis and killed him.
Heracles and Apollo. Heracles asked the Delphic oracle how he might be cured of his fits of murderous
madness. When the Pythia refused to answer him, he began to carry off the tripod, so as to set up his own
oracle. Apollo prevented him, and their fight was ended by Zeus. Finally the Pythia told him that he must
serve as a slave for one year.
Omphale. Heracles was sold to OMPHALE [om'fa-lee], queen of Lydia, and served as her slave, even
dressing as a woman and spinning wool for her.
Heracles and Deanira in Trachis. Because of the murder of Iphitus, Heracles no longer could live at
Tiryns, and he and Deanira were received by Ceyx, king of TRACHIS [tray'kis]. On the way back to
Trachis from Lydia, Heracles attacked Oechalia: he sacked the city, killed Eurytus, and took Iole prisoner,
sending her back to Deanira with his herald, LICHAS [leye'kas].
THE DEATH OF HERACLES
Deanira learned from Lichas that Heracles loved Iole. Remembering the advice of Nessus, she smeared a
shirt with the centaur's blood and sent Lichas to give it to Heracles to wear at the sacrifice to Zeus, which
Heracles was performing in thanksgiving for his victory. The flames of the sacrificial fire warmed the blood
and the shirt clung to the flesh of Heracles, burning him with intolerable pain. In agony he hurled Lichas
into the sea and had himself carried back to Mt. Oeta in Trachis, where he was placed on a huge funeral
pyre.
When Deanira heard what had happened, she killed herself. Hyllus went with his father to Mt. Oeta,
where Heracles ordered him to marry Iole.
The Apotheosis of Heracles. Heracles gave his bow to POEAS [pee'as], or POIAS, father of
PHILOCTETES [fi-lok-tee'teez] or PHILOKTETES (see M/L, Chapter 17), as a reward for lighting the
pyre. The mortal part of Heracles perished in the flames, while his immortal part ascended to Olympus in a
chariot sent by Zeus. There Heracles became one of the immortal gods; he was reconciled with Hera and
was given Hebe as his wife.
ALCMENE AND EURYSTHEUS
Alcmena and the children of Heracles were persecuted by Eurystheus despite the protection of King Ceyx.
They fled from Trachis to Athens and were received by King Demophon, son of Theseus. The Athenians
killed Eurystheus with his five sons in battle. Alcmena revenged herself by mutilating his severed head.
Euripides said that the Athenian victory was assured by the voluntary sacrifice of Macaria (daughter of
Heracles) to Persephone, and that the nephew of Heracles, Iolus, was miraculously rejuvenated and
captured Eurystheus, who was later executed. Pindar says that Iolus himself killed Eurystheus, whose
body was buried in the tomb of Amphitryon at Thebes. Alcmena died at Thebes and went to the Elysian
Fields, where she became the consort of Rhadamanthys. In another version she married Rhadamanthys in
Thebes (after the death of Amphitryon). After her death Hermes substituted a large stone for her body in the
coffin, and her grandchildren set up a shrine to her with a cult.

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THE HERACLIDAE
Hyllus married Iole and led an expedition in an attempt to return to the Peloponnese. He was killed by
Echemus, king of Tegea. After 100 years his descendant, Temenus, invaded the Peloponnese and defeated
its defenders, who were led by Tisamenus, son of Orestes. Thus the HERACLIDAE [her-a-kleye'dee] or
HERAKLIDAI, "descendants of Heracles" returned to the Peloponnese, where the three principal areas
were divided among them: Procles and Eurysthenes ruled Sparta; Temenus ruled Argos, and Cresphontes
held Messene. These were the principal Dorian kingdoms in the Peloponnese, and Sparta, which subjugated
Messene, and Argos flourished for centuries.
CHAPTER 21: THESEUS AND THE LEGENDS OF ATTICA
The legends of Attica fall into three groups:
Foundation myths and legends of the early kings of Athens.
The saga of Theseus.
Legends involving Minos, king of Crete.
FOUNDATION MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE EARLY KINGS OF ATHENS
Cecrops. The Athenians said that they were autochthonous (sprung from the earth. The first king was
CECROPS [see'kropz], or KEKROPS, who was autochthonous and half-serpentine. Attica was called
"Cecropia" after him.
The contest between Poseidon and Athena for control of Attica took place in Cecrops' time (see M/L,
Chapter 6). For Cecrops' daughters see Erichthonius.
Erichthonius. The second king, ERICHTHONIUS [er-ik-thohn'i-us], or ERICHTHONIOS, was also
autochthonous and half-serpentine, sprung from the semen of Hephaestus that fell to the ground when
Hephaestus tried to violate Athena. Erichthonius was put in a basket and given to the daughters of Cecrops,
who ignored the taboo against looking inside the basket. Driven mad, they killed themselves and
Erichthonius was brought up by Athena. He founded the festival of the Panathenaea and set up the wooden
statue of Athena on the Acropolis (see M/L, Chapter 6). In another version, the daughters of Cecrops
(Aglauros, Herse, and Pandrosos) did not kill themselves. Herse became mother of Cephalus by Hermes.
Aglauros, because of her earlier disobedience and because she asked Hermes for gold as a reward for her
help in bringing him to Herse, was punished by Athena with insatiable envy. Hermes turned her into a rock.
Erechtheus. The third king was ERECHTHEUS [e-rek'the-us]. He was later worshiped at Athens and was
closely associated with Poseidon. The ERECHTHEUM [e-rek-thee'um], or ERECHTHEION, was a temple
on the Acropolis dedicated to him and to Athena Polias (i.e., Athena as guardian of the city). It contained
the wooden statue of Athena set up by Erichthonius, and the olive tree and salt "sea" produced in the
contest of Poseidon and Athena. It also housed the tomb of Erechtheus.
Erechtheus defended Athens against Eumolpus, son of Poseidon and king of Eleusis. To secure the
victory he sacrificed his daughter (sometimes called Chthonia). Erechtheus killed Eumolpus and was
himself killed by a blow from Poseidon's trident.
Creusa and Ion. In his drama, Ion [eye'on], Euripides made CREUSA [kree-ou'sa], or KREOUSA, a
daughter of Erechtheus who survives after all her sisters have been sacrificed to Earth to win the victory.
By Apollo she became the mother of Ion, who was rescued from exposure by Hermes and brought up at
Delphi. Later he was recognized by Creusa and returned to Athens. He became the ancestor of the Ionic
tribes of Athens and the Greek colonies in Ionia.

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Cephalus and Procris. CEPHALUS [se'fa-lus], or KEPHALOS, the son of Hermes and Herse (Cecrops'
daughter), married PROCRIS [pro'kris], or PROKRIS, a daughter of Erechtheus. He was a hunter loved by
Eos, goddess of the dawn. In disguise he seduced his wife and she fled, becoming a follower of Artemis.
When she returned to Cephalus, Artemis gave her a hound, Laelaps, which always caught its prey, and a
javelin that never missed its mark. (The hound chased a fox that could not be caught and finally both were
turned into stone.) Later Procris secretly watched Cephalus as he rested in the forest from hunting. When he
called on the breeze (Latin Aura) to cool him, she thought he was calling on the Dawn (Aurora in Latin)
and moved. Cephalus threw the javelin into the bushes where he had seen the movement and killed his
wife.
Orithyia and Boreas and their Children. Another daughter of Erechtheus was ORITHYIA [or-itheye'ya], or OREITHYIA. By BOREAS [bohr'e-as], the north wind, she was the mother of ZETES
[zee'teez] and CALAIS [kay'la-is], or KALAIS (who were winged), and of Cleopatra and Chione.
Cleopatra married Phineus, king of Thrace (see M/L, Chapter 22) and Chione, by Poseidon, was the mother
of Eumolpus, the king of Eleusis against whom Erechtheus fought (see above).
Pandion. The fourth king was PANDION [pan-deye'on]. Pandion was driven out of Athens by Metion. His
four sons recovered the throne, and eventually Aegeus ruled as the fifth king of Athens, while his brother,
Nisus, ruled at Megara.
Philomela and Procne. Pandion was the father of PHILOMELA [fil-oh-mee'la] and PROCNE [prok'nee],
or PROKNE. Procne went to Thrace as wife of TEREUS [teer'e-us], and her son was ITYS [eyet'is]. When
Philomela visited her sister, Tereus raped and mutilated her and shut her up in a hut in the forest. Procne
discovered the truth and revenged herself on Tereus by killing Itys and serving him to his father to eat. She
was turned into a swallow, Philomela into a nightingale, and Tereus into a hoopoe. (For the Greeks Procne
became the nightingale and Philomela the swallow.)
THE SAGA OF THESEUS
AEGEUS [ee'je-us], or AIGEUS, son of Pandion and king of Athens, was father of Theseus by AETHRA
[ee'thra], or AITHRA, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen, where Theseus spent his childhood. Aegeus
left a sword and pair of sandals under a rock as tokens by which he could recognize his son. When he was
strong enough to lift the rock, Theseus recovered the tokens and set out for Athens.
The Labors of Theseus. On his journey from Troezen to Athens, Theseus performed six labors.
1. He killed a son of Hephaestus, PERIPHETES, [pe-ri-fee'teez], also called Corynetes ("CLUB-MAN")
from the club that was his weapon.
2. He killed SINIS [seye'nis], also called Pityocamptes ("PINE-BENDER'), by tying him to two bent trees
which he then released; this had been the way in which Sinis killed his victims.
3. He killed the monstrous Sow of Crommyon.
4. He killed SCIRON [skeye'ron], or SKIRON, who kicked travelers on the narrow path on the sea-cliffs
into the sea, where a huge turtle devoured them. Theseus killed him in the same way.
5. He wrestled to the death with CERCYON [ser'si-on], or KERKYON at Eleusis.
6. He killed PROCRUSTES [prokrus'teez], or PROKRUSTES ("the STRETCHER") who would kill
travelers by making them lie on a bed. He would hammer out those who were too short, until they fitted the
bed, and he would shorten with a saw those who were too long. Theseus killed him by his own methods.
Theseus and Aegeus. Theseus arrived at Athens, and was almost poisoned by Aegeus on the advice of
Medea (see M/L, Chapter 22). Aegeus recognized him in time by the sword that he had left in Troezen and
made him his successor. Pallas (brother of Aegeus) and his sons disputed Theseus' claim to the throne and
many of them were killed by Theseus.

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The Bull of Marathon. Theseus caught the bull of Marathon and sacrificed it at Athens to Apollo. On his
way to Marathon he was entertained by HECALE [hek'a-lee], or HEKALE, and after her death, on his
orders, she was honored at the annual festival of Zeus Hecalus.
Theseus kills the Minotaur. Theseus' most important myth is the killing of the MINOTAUR [mi'nohtawr], the monstrous son of MINOS [meye'nohs] and PASIPHA [pa-sif'a-ee], which was shut up in the
Labyrinth in the palace of Minos at CNOSSUS [knos'sus] or KNOSSOS. While visiting Athens,
Androgeos, son of Minos, was killed by the Athenians, and Minos attacked Athens (and her ally, Megara),
in a war of revenge. As a result the Athenians agreed to send fourteen girls and boys every seven years to
be devoured by the Minotaur, and Theseus volunteered to go. On the voyage to Crete, Minos challenged
Theseus to prove that he was the son of Poseidon by recovering a ring that he threw into the sea. Theseus
jumped into the sea and came to the palace of Amphitrite, the wife of Poseidon, who gave him a robe and a
wreath (and, presumably, the ring).
Theseus and Ariadne. At Knossos Theseus, was helped by ARIADNE [a-ri-ad'nee], who, some say, gave
Theseus the wreath to illuminate the Labyrinth), but others say gave him a thread by which to find his way
out of the Labyrinth. Thus Theseus slew the Minotaur and emerged from the Labyrinth. He sailed from
Crete with Ariadne, whom he deserted on the island of NAXOS [nak'sos], also called Dia. She was rescued
by Dionysus, who took her wreath and set it in the heavens as the constellation Corona, making Ariadne his
wife (see M/L, Chapter 11).
Theseus, King of Athens. Theseus sailed from Naxos to Delos, where he danced the Crane dance (a
traditional dance at Delos with labyrinthine movements). From Delos he sailed to Athens, forgetting to
change his sails from black to white, the signal to Aegeus that he had been successful. When Aegeus saw
the black sails he threw himself into the sea, which was thenceforth called the Aegean Sea, and Theseus
became king of Athens.
Theseus and the Amazons. Theseus joined Heracles in his ninth labor (see M/L, Chapter 20) and fought
the Amazons, bringing back with him the Amazon queen HIPPOLYTA [hip-pol'i-ta] (or, others say,
ANTIOPE [an-teye'oh-pee]), by whom he became the father of Hippolytus (see M/L, Chapter 8). He
defended Athens from an attack by the Amazons during which Hippolyta (or Antiope) died.
Other Adventures. Theseus took part in the Argonauts' expedition (see M/L, Chapter 22) and the
Calydonian boar-hunt (see M/L, Chapter 23).
Theseus and Phaedra. At some time after his encounter with the amazons and the birth of Hippolytus,
Theseus married PHAEDRA [fee'dra], daughter of Minos and sister of Ariadne (see M/L, Chapter 8).
Theseus' Friendship with Pirithos. PIRITHOS [pi-ri'thoh-us], or PIRITHOS, son of Ixion and king
of the Thessalian Lapiths, was Theseus' friend. He attended the marriage feast of Pirithos and Hippodamia
and fought against the drunken centaurs (see M/L, Chapter 23). They later decided each to take a wife
worthy of their divine ancestry. Together they seized Helen for Theseus.
Theseus and Helen. While Theseus was away in the Underworld, he left Helen with his mother, Aethra, in
the Attic village of Aphidnae. The Dioscuri, Helen's brothers, rescued her and took Aethra back to Sparta as
Helen's slave. She went with Helen to Troy.
Theseus and Pirithos in the Underworld. After seizing Helen, the two friends then descended to the
Underworld to seize Persephone for Pirithos. There Hades imprisoned them on magic chairs; Heracles set
Theseus free during his twelfth labor, but Pirithos was left in the house of Hades for ever.
Theseus the Protector. Theseus protected Oedipus in his old age and was present at his "translation" at
Colonus. He championed the mothers and widows of the Seven against Thebes (see M/L, Chapter 15), and

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he offered a refuge at Athens to Heracles after he had murdered his wife and children (see M/L, Chapter
20).
Theseus' Death and Successors. He was driven out of Athens by the usurper Menestheus and went to the
island of Scyros, where King Lycomedes probably killed him. Demophon, son of Theseus, succeeded
Menestheus as king and rescued his grandmother, Aethra, at the fall of Troy. He gave refuge to Alcmena,
mother of Heracles, and helped the Heraclidae (see M/L, Chapter 20).
The last king of Athens was Codrus, who gave up his life to bring victory to Athens.

THE LEGENDS OF MINOS

Minos was the son of Europa and Zeus (see M/L, Chapter 15), and much of his legend has been told above.
Minos and Scylla. In his war against Athens and Megara because of the murder of his son Androgeos, he
attacked Megara. SCYLLA [sil'la] or SKYLLA, daughter of Nisus, king of Megara, betrayed her father out
of love for Minos, by cutting off a magic purple lock from his head. Rejected by Minos, she clung to his
ship as he sailed away and was turned into a sea bird, the ciris.
Daedalus, Pasipha, and the Minotaur. The Athenian craftsman and inventor, DAEDALUS [dee'da-lus],
or DAIDALOS, fled from Athens to Crete after he had hurled PERDIX [per'diks], the inventor of the saw,
off the Acropolis. Perdix was turned into a partridge.
Minos had kept a bull, sent from the sea by Poseidon, for himself instead of sacrificing it to the god as he
had vowed. Poseidon caused PASIPHA [pa-sif'a-ee] to fall in love with the bull, and Daedalus built a
hollow wooden cow, into which Pasipha climbed to mate with the bull. From this union came the
MINOTAUR [mi'noh-tawr], which was shut up in the Labyrinth, built by Daedalus.
Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus escaped from Crete by flying with the aid of wings that he invented for
himself and his son, ICARUS [ik'a-rus], or IKAROS. Icarus, flying too near the sun, fell into the sea, but
Daedalus came to Sicily, where he was protected by King Cocalus. The story of Daedalus and Icarus is
similar in its motifs to that of Apollo and Phathon (see M/L, Chapter 1).
The Death of Minos. Minos followed him to Sicily and there was killed by the daughters of Cocalus. As
son of Zeus he became a judge in the Underworld.
The Children of Minos. Of the children of Minos, Ariadne and Phaedra have been mentioned. His son
Catreus was associated with Rhodes, where he was worhsipped as a hero. Another son, Deucalion, was the
father of the Trojan war hero, Idomeneus (see M/L, Chapters 17 and 18). A third son, GLAUKUS
[glaw'kus], or GLAUKOS, was miraculously brought back to life (after falling into a vat of honey) by the
seer Polyidus. The death of the fourth son, Androgeos has already been mentioned.

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CHAPTER 22: THE ARGONAUTS

SAGA AND FOLKTALE
The saga of the ARGONAUTS [ar'goh-nawtz] concerns the quest for the Golden Fleece by Jason
and the crew of the ARGO [ar'goh], who included many of the leading Greek heroes from the age
before the Trojan War. As a group they are sometimes called Minyae, and two cities that claimed
to be Minyan were Iolcus (in Thessaly) and Miletus (in Ionia), which was especially active in
founding colonies in the Euxine (Black Sea) area, the setting for the quest.
THE GOLDEN FLEECE
ATHAMAS [ath'a-mas] of Thebes married NEPHELE [nef'e-lee] ("Cloud"), who bore him PHRIXUS
[frik'sus], or PHRIXOS and HELLE [hel'lee] and then returned to the sky. Athamas then married INO
[eye'noh], daughter of Cadmus (see M/L, Chapter 15), who out of jealousy of her step-children caused a
famine and, after Delphi had been consulted, plotted to have Athamas sacrifice Phrixus to end the famine.
At the moment of sacrifice Nephele caught up Phrixus and Helle and set them on a ram with a golden
fleece, the gift of Hermes, which carried them eastward through the heavens. Helle fell off into the straits
between Europe and Asia, thenceforth called Hellespont ("Helle's Sea"), while Phrixus continued to
Colchis, at the eastern end of the Black Sea. Here he was received by King AEETES [ee-ee'teez], son of
Helius and brother of Circe and Pasipha, who give him his daughter, Chalciope as wife.
Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Zeus Phyxios (Zeus, god of escape) and gave the golden fleece to Aetes. It
was hung in a grove sacred to Ares and guarded by a serpent.
JASON AND PELIAS
Cretheus (brother of Athamas) was king of Iolcus. His son and successor, AESON [ee'son], or AISON, was
deposed by his stepson, PELIAS [pel'i-as], son of Poseidon and Tyro. Aeson's son, JASON [jay'son], was
sent to the hills to be educated by the centaur CHIRON [keye'ron], and after twenty years returned to Iolcus
to reclaim his family's throne.
On his journey back Jason carried an old woman across the river Anaurus, losing a shoe during the
crossing. She was the goddess Hera, who thereafter favored Jason.
Pelias was warned by the Delphic oracle to beware of a man with one shoe. As the price for giving up the
throne, he ordered Jason to fetch him the Golden Fleece, an impossible task that he thought would get rid of
Jason.

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THE VOYAGE OF THE ARGONAUTS TO CHOLCIS

The Argo [ar'goh] was the first ship, built by ARGUS [ar'gus], or ARGOS (son of Arestor) with the help of
Athena. In its bow was a piece of wood from the sacred grove of Zeus at Dodona, that had the power of
speech.
Its crew (usually fifty in number) included the best Greek heroes: Jason, the leader, Augeas, Theseus,
Meleager, Peleus, Telamon, Nauplius, Orpheus and Heracles. Many were fathers of Trojan War heroes,
while others had special skills: Idmon and Mopsus were seers; Castor and Polydeuces were, respectively, a
horseman and a boxer; Lynceus had special powers of sight; Zetes and Calas (sons of Boreas) were
winged; Argus was the shipwright, and Tiphys the helmsman.
Hypsipyle and the Lemnian Women. They sailed to Lemnos, where the women, under Queen
HYPSIPYLE [hip-sip'i-lee], had killed every male, except for THOAS [thoh'as], father of Hypsipyle. She
put him in a chest, in which he floated to the land of the Tauri (i.e., southern Russia). The Argonauts stayed
for a year and fathered many children. After their departure, Hypsipyle was driven by the other women
from the island, because of her deception in saving Thoas, and she came eventually to Nemea, where she
had a role in the saga of the Seven against Thebes (see M/L, Chapter 15).
Heracles and the Argonauts. The Argonauts sailed to CYZICUS [siz'i-kus], or KYZIKOS, where
Heracles killed the earth-born giants (Gegeneis) who lived nearby. In a night-battle they mistakenly killed
King Cyzicus (after whom the city was named). At their next landfall, Cios, Heracles left in search of his
companion HYLAS [heye'las] and the Argo sailed on without him (see M/L, Chapter 20).
Polydeuces and Amycus. Coming to the Bebryces (on the Euxine coast) POLYDEUCES [pol-i-dou'seez],
or POLYDEUKES (POLLUX), boxed against their king, AMYCUS [am'i-kus] or AMYKOS, and killed
him.
Phineus and the Harpies. At Salmydessus they were received by the blind king, PHINEUS [feyen'e-us],
who was tormented by the Harpies ("snatchers"), winged monsters who snatched away his food and fouled
what was left. ZETES [zee'teez] and CALAIS [kay'la-is], or KALAIS, pursued them to the Strophades
("turn-around") Islands, where the Harpies swore never to harass Phineus again.
The Clashing Rocks. Next were the SYMPLEGADES [sim-pleg'a-deez], "clashing rocks," between which
nothing had ever passed. Forewarned by Phineus, Jason sent a dove between the rocks: as they parted after
trying to crush the dove, the Argonauts rowed furiously through the gap, and the rocks were fixed ever
after.
Further along the Euxine coast Idmon was killed by a boar, and Tiphys, the helmsman, died. His place
was taken by Ancaeus. The Argo sailed past the land of the Amazons and the land of the Chalybes ("ironworkers") to the Island of Ares.
The Stymphalian Birds. They frightened away the STYMPHALIAN [stim-fay'li-an] birds, which had
settled on the Island of Ares after being driven out of Greece by Heracles in his sixth Labor. Here they took
on board the four sons of Phrixus (who had been shipwrecked) and sailed on to the river Phasis, on whose
banks was Colchis.
JASON AT COLCHIS
Aetes set Jason a series of impossible tasks before he would let him take the Golden Fleece. He was to
yoke a pair of brazen-footed, fire-breathing bulls (the gift of Hephaestus to Aetes) and plough a field. In
the furrows he was to sow dragon's teeth and kill the armed men who would spring up from the teeth.
Helped by Medea, daughter of Aetes, Jason performed these tasks and took the fleece.

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Medea. A priestess of Hecate, MEDEA [me-dee'a], or MEDEIA was as skilled in magic as her aunt, Circe.
Hera and Aphrodite made her fall in love with Jason, to whom she gave a magic ointment to protect him
from fire and iron, and drugs to tranquillize the serpent that guarded the fleece.
Euripides makes Medea kill the dragon, so that she may claim that she, not Jason, is the dragon-slayer;
on a vase by Douris (ca. 470 B.C.) Jason is swallowed by the dragon and disgorged, while Athena looks on.
THE RETURN OF THE ARGONAUTS
The Argonauts set sail with the fleece and the princess, pursued by the Colchians. Their leader, APSYRTUS
[ap-sir'tus], or APSYRTOS, brother of Medea, was killed on land by Jason: some say that Medea killed him
on the Argo and threw him piecemeal into the sea to delay the pursuers.
The Return Route. Pindar has the Argonauts sail by the River of Ocean (i.e., at the edge of the world) to
the "Red Sea," then to Lemnos and so home.
In the Argonautica of Apollonius, the Argonauts sail from the Euxine up the Danube, across to the
Adriatic and up the Eridanus (a mythical river sometimes identified with the Po), and across to the Rhone,
down which they sailed to the Mediterranean.
The Phaeacians. In this version they confronted many of the dangers later faced by Odysseus (see M/L,
Chapter 18) and came to the land of the PHAEACIANS [fee-ay'shi-anz], or PHAIAKIANS. Here they
appealed to Queen Arete for protection from the Colchians, and the king. Alcinos, promised not to give
them up if they were already married. There they celebrated the marriage, and the Colchians gave up the
pursuit.
The Argonauts sailed to Libya and were stranded on the Syrtes (shoals off the Libyan coast). They
carried the Argo on their shoulders for twelve days to Lake Tritonis (Mopsus died in the desert) and from
there made their way back to the sea.
Talus. Continuing their voyage, they killed the bronze giant, TALUS [ta'lus], or TALOS, who guarded the
island of Crete, by opening a vein above one of his ankles, through which his life-supporting ichor (the
divine equivalent of blood) leaked out.
Jason and Pelias. Finally they sailed back to Iolcus. Jason handed over the fleece to Pelias and dedicated
the Argo to Poseidon at the Isthmus of Corinth. But Pelias refused to give up his throne to Aeson, Jason's
father, as he had promised.
Medea and the Daughters of Pelias. Medea tricked the daughters of Pelias into trying to rejuvenate him
by cutting him up and boiling him in a cauldron. They only succeeded in killing him. For this murder
Medea and Jason were driven out of Iolcus and went to Corinth.
JASON AND MEDEA IN CORITH
Aetes had originally been king of Ephyra (an early name of Corinth), which he left to go to Colchis. In the
original version of the saga, the Corinthians sent for his daughter, Medea, to be their queen, and through her
Jason became king of Corinth. She was favored by Hera, in whose sanctuary her children (by Jason) died
and were honored with a cult.
In another version the king of Corinth was CREON [kree'on], or KREON. He was killed by Medea, who
left her children in the sanctuary of Hera, where they were murdered by Creon's family, after Medea had
fled to Athens.

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Euripides' Medea. In Euripides' tragedy, Medea, Jason divorces Medea so that he can marry Creon's
daughter, GLAUCE [Glaw'see], OR GLAUKE (also called CREUSA [kree-ou'sa], or KREOUSA), and
Creon orders Medea to leave Corinth. Medea sent her children with gifts for Glauce--a robe and a crown
smeared with magic ointment that burned Glauce and Creon to death. Medea then killed the children as a
final revenge on Jason. She escaped to Athens (where King AEGEUS [ee'je-us], or AIGEUS had promised
to receive her) in a chariot drawn by winged dragons and sent by her grandfather, Helius. Jason lived on in
Corinth, where he died, struck by a piece of wood that fell from the Argo.
Medea in Athens. At Athens Medea failed to trick Aegeus into poisoning his son, Theseus (who had been
one of the Argonauts), and she fled to Persia. There Medus, her son by Aegeus, founded the kingdom of
Media. Medea herself returned to Colchis.

CHAPTER 23: MYTHS OF LOCAL HEROES AND HEROINES

Many legends are associated with local heroes and heroines, often in conjunction with a local hero-cult.
Some legends attracted folktale elements and spread beyond their original region. Others owe their fame to
the quality of a literary narrative, for example, Ovid's story of Pyramus and Thisbe. The myths in this
chapter are arranged by region.
CENTRAL GREECE: THESSALY, PHTHIA AND TRACHIS
Ixion and Centaurus. IXION [ik-seye'on], king of the Thessalian Lapiths, was the first mortal to murder a
relative, when he lured his wife's father, Eioneus, to his death. Only Zeus could purify him for this
unprecedented crime, yet after his purification, Ixion attempted to lie with Hera. In her place Zeus put a
cloud (Nephele), whose child was the monster Centaurus, from whom descended the race of CENTAURS
[sen'tawrs], half-human and half-equine. Ixion was punished in the Underworld (or, in an earlier version, in
the sky) bound to the spokes of an ever-revolving wheel (see M/L, Chapter 13).
Chiron. Of the Centaurs the most important was CHIRON [keye'ron], whose mother was Philyra. He was
wise and gentle, skilled in medicine and music, and he taught these arts and others to a number of heroes,
including Achilles and Jason. Chiron was immortal and could not end by death the intolerable pain of the
wound he received from the arrow of Heracles (see M/L, Chapter 20). He exchanged his immortality with
Prometheus, dying in place of Prometheus when he was released by Heracles (see M/L, Chapter 2).
The Wedding of Pirithos and Hippodamia. The other Centaurs were more violent. At the wedding feast of
the Lapith prince, PIRITHOS [pi-rith'oh-us], or PIRITHOS and HIPPODAMIA [hip-po-da-mee'a or
hip-po-da-meye'a], or HIPPODAMEIA, they attempted to carry off the bride and other Lapith women.
They were prevented after a brutal battle with the Lapiths and their human guests (including the Athenian
hero, Theseus).
Caeneus. During this battle the Centaurs killed the Lapith CAENEUS [see'ne-us], or KAINEUS, burying
him under a pile of tree-trunks. He had originally been a girl, CAENIS [see'nis], or KAINIS, who had been
seduced by Poseidon and had been turned by him (at her request) into a man, invulnerable to weapons or to
seduction and rape.
Peleus and his Wedding with Thetis. The leading hero of Phthia (a region to the south of Thessaly) was
PELEUS [pee'le-us], son of Aeacus (king of Aegina) and brother of Telamon (father of Ajax). He left
Aegina because he had killed a half-brother and was purified by Eurytion, king of Phthia, whom he later
killed accidentally during the Calydonian boar-hunt (see below). Driven out once more for murder he came
to Iolcus, where he was purified by King ACASTUS [a-kas'tus], or AKASTOS, whose queen,
ASTYDAMIA [as-ti-da-mee'a or as-ti-da-meye'a], or ASTYDAMEIA, fell in love with him. When he
refused her, she accused him before Acastus of trying to seduce her. Acastus took him hunting on Mt.

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Pelion and abandoned him there asleep, after hiding his sword in a pile of dung. When he awoke Chiron
saved him from the attacks of wild animals and Centaurs and returned the sword to him.
Zeus gave the sea-goddess THETIS [thee'tis] to Peleus as wife (see M/L, Chapter 5), and all the
Olympian gods and goddesses came to the wedding feast on Mt. Pelion. Not invited was ERIS [er'is]
"Discord", who still came, bringing the apple that led to the judgement of Paris and eventually to the Trojan
War (see M/L, Chapter 17). Peleus and Thetis returned to Phthia, where their son, Achilles, was born. Soon
afterward Thetis returned to the sea.
In the Iliad Peleus is mentioned as a lonely old man back in Phthia, but in Euripides' play, Andromache
he appears at Delphi after the Trojan War, defending Andromache from Orestes and Hermione (see M/L,
Chapter 16). At the end of the Andromache Thetis appears and prophesies that Peleus will be immortal and
will be reunited with her.
Salmoneus. The Thessalian hero SALMONEUS [sal-mohn'e-us], son of Aeolus, is associated with Elis,
where he founded Salmone. He tried to imitate Zeus and demanded that he be honored as a god, for which
Zeus killed him with his thunderbolt and hurled him into eternal punishment in the Underworld.
Ceyx and Alcyone. CEYX [see'iks], or KEYX, king of Trachis, and ALCYONE [al-seye'on-ee], or
ALKYONE (daughter of Aeolus), called themselves Zeus and Hera and were punished by being turned into
seabirds. Ovid is more romantic: in his story Ceyx was drowned during a sea-voyage and told Alcyone of
his death in a dream. She found his corpse on the seashore and in grief changed into a seabird (the mythical
halcyon is sometimes identified with a kingfisher), while Ceyx came to life also as a seabird (perhaps a
tern). When the halcyon sits on her eggs afloat on the sea, her father, Aeolus, forbids the winds to blow.
Tyro. The daughter of Salmoneus was TYRO [teye'roh], who was seduced by Poseidon in the form of a
river-god, Enipeus. Their twin sons were Neleus, founder of Pylos and father of Nestor (see M/L, Chapter
20), and Pelias, king of Iolcus and father of Acastus.
Tyro later married Cretheus, founder of Iolcus. Their sons were Aeson, father of Jason (see M/L, Chapter
22), Pheres, father of Admetus and founder of Pherae, and Amythaon, father of Bias and Melampus.
Admetus won Alcestis as wife by harnessing a lion and a boar to a chariot: for her loss and recovery from
Death (Thanatos) by Heracles see M/L, Chapter 20.
Melampus and Bias. MELAMPUS [me-lam'pus], or MELAMPOS was a seer, who also understood the
language of animals. He helped his brother, BIAS [beye'as], win PERO [pee'roh], daughter of Neleus, as
bride by winning for him the cattle of PHYLACUS [feye'la-kus], or PHYLAKOS, a Phthian prince, as a
reward for telling Phylacus how to cure the impotemce of his son, IPHICLUS [if'ik-lus] or IPHIKLOS.
Before that he had been put in prison by Phylacus, whom he warned of the imminent collapse of the prison
through hearing the conversation of two woodworms who were gnawing through the roof-beams.
Melampus introduced the worship of Dionysus to Greece, according to Herodotus. The daughters of
King PROETUS [pro-ee'tus], or PROETOS of Tiryns were driven mad when they resisted Dionysus,
killing their children and rushing around the countryside. Melampus cured them and was rewarded with
half of Proetus' kingdom, ruling at Argos. His great-grandson was Amphiaras, one of the Seven against
Thebes (see M/L, Chapter 15).
BOEOTIA
The principal myths of Boeotia are the Theban sagas (see M/L, Chapter 15).

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The Daughters of Minyas. At Orchomenus the daughters of King MINYAS [min'i-as] refused to join in
the worship of Dionysus, who drove them mad. They tore apart HIPPASUS [hip'pa-sus], or HIPPASOS, the
son of Leucippe, and were turned into bats.
The Loves of Helius. Another daughter of Minyas, CLYMENE [kleye'me-nee], had five husbands. By
Helius (the sun) she was the mother of Phathon (see M/L, Chapter 1), by Pheres the mother of Admetus,
by Iasus the mother of Atalanta.
Besides the Boeotian Clymene, Helius loved the eastern princess LEUCOTHO (lou-ko'thoh-ee], or
LEUKOTHO, whose father, Orchamus, buried her alive. Helius shed drops of nectar over her body, from
which the frankincense tree grew. Orchamus' informer was CLYTIE [kleye'ti-ee or kleye'shi-ee], or
KLYTIE, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, who herself loved Helius. He would not forgive her for
betraying Leucotho, and with her eyes she followed his progress across the heavens until she turned into a
sunflower, or heliotrope (Greek for "turning towards the sun").
Trophonius and Agamedes. At Lebadeia was the shrine and cult of the Boeotian hero, TROPHONIUS
[tro-foh'ni-us], or TROPHONIOS. He and his brother, AGAMEDES [a-ga-mee'deez], built treasuries for
the kings Augeas (in Elis) and Hyrieus (in Boeotia). In one of these they included a moveable stone, which
they used to enter the treasury and steal treasure. When Agamedes was caught in a trap inside, Trophonius
cut off his head and escaped. He fled to Lebadeia and there was swallowed up by the earth. Pindar says that
the brothers built the temple of Apollo at Delphi, and were rewarded by the god's gift of eternal sleep.
AETOLIA
Aetolia lies in the south-west part of the Greek mainland, bordered on the west by the River Achelos, and
on the south by the Gulf of Corinth. Its principal city in mythology is Calydon, which lies on the River
Evenus. For the struggle of Heracles with the river-god Achelos for Deanira, which took place near
Calydon, and for his killing of Nessus at the River Evenus, see M/L, Chapter 20.
The Calydonian Boar Hunt. The founder of Calydon was Oeneus, father of MELEAGER [mel-e-ay'jer],
Deanira, and Tydeus, and grandfather of the Trojan War hero, Diomedes. He forgot to sacrifice to Artemis,
who sent a huge boar to ravage the land at the time of a war between the CALYDONIANS [kal-i-doh'nianz], or KALYDONIANS and the CURETES [kou-ree'teez], or KOURETES.
According to Homer, Meleager's mother, ALTHAEA [al-thee'a], or ALTHAIA, cursed her son because he
had killed her brother, and in anger he withdrew from the war against the Curetes. He returned to fight
because of the entreaties of his wife, CLEOPATRA [kle-o-pa'tra], and drove the Curetes back from the city,
yet still was not given his promised reward by the Calydonians. Presumably he died because of Althaea's
curse.
Meleager killed Althaea's brothers accidentally in battle, and she brought about his death by burning a
log that contained his Moira (allotted portion of life), which the Moirai (Fates) had advised her to snatch
from the fire at his birth and keep in a chest. As the log burned Meleager's life ebbed away.
Many heroes took part in the Calydonian boar hunt, which was led by Meleager. According to Ovid,
Meleager killed the boar and gave its skin to ATALANTA [at-a-lan'ta], daughter of Schoeneus, who had
first wounded it with her spear. When Althaea's brothers protested Meleager killed them. In anger Althaea
burned the log, and Meleager died. Later Althaea and Cleopatra hanged themselves, and the women who
mourned for Meleager were turned into guinea-fowl (meleagrides).
Atalanta. Atalanta, the daughter of the Arcadian hero. Iasus, was nurtured by wild animals, she, too, was a
huntress. Ovid narrates that the suitor who could win a foot-race against her would win her as wife. Those
who lost were killed. After many suitors had failed, MILANION [mi-lan'i-on], also called HIPPOMENES

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[hip-po'me-neez], dropped three golden apples (the gift to him of Aphrodite) one by one during his race,
which he won because Atalanta stopped to pick each one up.
CORINTH
The two principal Corinthian heroes were Sisyphus and his grandson, Bellerophon.
Sisyphus. SISYPHUS [sis'i-fus], or SISYPHOS, son of Aeolus, came from Thessaly. Either he founded
Corinth, or it was founded by Aetes, and Sisyphus became its king after Medea had left (see M/L, Chapter
22). He founded the Isthmian Games in honor of MELICERTES [mel-i-ser'teez], or MELIKERTES, son of
his brother, ATHAMAS [a'tha-mas], and INO [eye'noh]. The child's body had come to shore at the Isthmus
after Ino had leaped into the sea with him in her arms (see M/L, Chapter 11). Mother and son became seagods, respectively LEUCOTHEA [lou-ko-thee'a], or LEUKOTHEA and PALAEMON [pa-lee'mon], or
PALAIMON.
Sisyphus stole the cattle of the master-thief Autolycus, whose friend he became. In one version of his
myth he seduced the daughter of Autolycus, Anticlea, before she married Laertes and was the father of
Odysseus.
Sisyphus outwitted THANATOS [than'a-tos], "Death," whom Zeus had sent to carry him off because he
had told the river-god, Asopus, that Zeus was seducing the river-god's daughter, Aegina. First Sisyphus
chained Thanatos, so that no mortals could die. After Ares had freed Thanatos, Sisyphus had to go to the
Underworld, but first he told his wife, Merope, not to offer sacrifices for the dead. Hades sent Sisyphus
back to tell Merope to offer the sacrifices, but Sisyphus stayed on in Corinth until he died at an advanced
age.
Sisyphus was punished in the Underworld for revealing the secret of Zeus' love for Aegina by having to
push a huge rock endlessly uphill only to have it roll down again.
Bellerophon. BELLEROPHON [bel-ler'o-fon] was grandson of Sisyphus. He left Corinth to go to Tiryns,
where STHENEBOEA [sthen-e-bee'a], or STHENEBOIA (also called Antea), wife of King Proetus, fell in
love with him. When he rejected her she told Proetus that he had tried to seduce her. Proetus sent him to the
king of Lycia, IOBATES [eye-ohb'a-teez], with a sealed letter instructing Iobates to kill him.
Iobates set Bellerophon various tasks: first to kill the CHIMAERA [ki-mee'ra] or CHIMAIRA, a firebreathing monster that was part lion, part serpent, part goat. Then he had to fight the Solymi, a tribe of
violent warriors, and then the Amazons. After this Iobates set an ambush for Bellerophon, who killed all his
attackers. Iobates then gave Bellerophon his daughter as wife and half of his kingdom. He was the father of
Hippolochus, whose son was the Trojan war hero, Glaucus, and of Laodamia, who by Zeus became the
mother of Sarpedon (see M/L, Chapter 17), and of a second son, Isandrus.
Bellerophon ended his days "hated by men" (says Homer) and wandering alone. Later authors (Pindar
and Euripides) associate him with the winged horse Pegasus (for whose birth see M/L, Chapter 19), the gift
of Poseidon. At Corinth Athena gave him a magic bridle with which to master Pegasus, with whose help he
performed the tasks for Iobates.
Bellerophon then returned to Tiryns and punished Stheneboea by luring her onto Pegasus and throwing
her off as they flew over the sea. Eventually he tried to fly up to Olympus itself and fell to his death in the
sea.
Arion of Lesbos. ARION [a-reye'on] was honored at Corinth, where he was favored by the tyrant,
Periander (ca. 600 B.C.). He was the inventor of several kinds of Greek music and poetry, among them the
dithyramb [dith'i-ramb], the ritual choral song sung in honor of Dionysus. Arion may be historical, but his

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myth is not. The crew of a ship carrying him from Italy to Corinth threw him overboard after he had sung a
final song for them. He was saved by a dolphin, which brought him safely to the sanctuary of Poseidon at
Cape Taenarum, from where he made his way back to Corinth.
OTHER PELOPONNESIAN LEGENDS
Arethusa. The river-god Alpheus (the chief river of the Peloponnese) pursued the nymph ARETHUSA [are-thou'sa]. She prayed to Artemis to save her and was turned into a stream which flowed underground and
under the sea, emerging at Syracuse (in Sicily) as the fountain Arethusa, where it is still called by that
name.
Iamus. Evadne, daughter of Poseidon and Pitane, became by Apollo the mother of IAMUS [eye-am'us],
whom she left on the bank of the Alpheus. He was fed on honey by two serpents and brought up by the
Arcadian hero, Aepytus. When he was grown, Poseidon and Apollo brought him to Olympia, where he
received the gift of prophecy and established an oracle associated with the altar of Zeus. Iamus appears as a
seer in the sculptures of the east pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, and he was the mythical
ancestor of the Iamids, the hereditary prophets at Olympia.
THE AEGEAN ISLANDS
Delos. This island was sacred to Apollo (see M/L, Chapter 9). A son of Apollo, Anius, ruled the island and
had three daughters, Elas "olive-girl", Spermo "seed-girl", and Oeno "wine-girl", to whom Dionysus gave
the power of producing olive-oil, grain, and wine. He turned them into doves when they tried to resist being
forced by Agamemnon to go to Troy.
Samothrace. At Samothrace the CABIRI [ka-beye'reye], or KABIROI were worshiped as theoi megaloi
("great gods") with an ancient and important mystery cult that was active as late as the fourth century A.D.
Ceos. On Ceos CYPARISSUS [si-par-is'sus], or KYPARISSOS was loved by Apollo. Grieving for the
death of a favorite stag (which he had accidentally killed) he was turned into a tree, the cypress, henceforth
associated with mourning and burial.
Also on Ceos CYDIPPE [seye-dip'ee], or KYDIPPE was loved by ACONTIUS [a-kon'ti-us], or
AKONTIOS, who left an apple for her to pick up inscribed with the words: "I swear before Artemis only to
marry Acontius." She bound herself by reading the words out loud and eventually married Acontius.
Rhodes. This island was sacred to HELIUS [hee'li-us], or HELIOS, the Sun. Zeus loved the eponymous
nymph of the island, RHODE [roh'dee], whose three grandsons were the founding eponymous heroes of the
island's three principal cities, Camirus, Ialysus, and Lindos. Each October the Rhodians threw a chariot and
four horses into the sea as a replacement for Helius' team, worn out by the labors of the summer.
Lindos. The temple of Athena at Lindos was founded by the Egyptian hero, Danas (see M/L, Chapter 19).
The Rhodian contingent in the Trojan war was led by a son of Heracles, Tlepolemus, who wounded
Sarpedon. The TELCHINES tel' kin-eez], skilled metalworkers, lived at Rhodes and were drowned by Zeus
because they could ruin everything by their evil eye. But they were originally pre-Olympian beings
associated with the sea, who nurtured the infant Poseidon.
Lesbos. The founder of the kingdom of Lesbos was MACAREUS [ma-kar'e-us], or MAKAREUS, son of
Aeolus, who committed incest with his sister, CANACE [kan'a-see], or KANAKE. Aeolus killed their baby
and forced Canace to kill herself. Macareus also killed himself.
Cyprus. Aphrodite was worshiped especially at Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, founded by its eponymous
hero, Paphos. (For the myth of his father, Pygmalion, see M/L, Chapter 7.) In Cyprian Salamis lived

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ANAXARETE [a-naks-ar'e-tee], who scorned her lover, IPHIS [eye'fis], and showed no pity even when he
hanged herself before the door of her house. As she watched his funeral procession pass, she was turned
into stone and became the cult-statue of Aphrodite at Salamis, called in Latin Venus Prospiciens (Venus the
Watcher).
Crete. On Crete lived another IPHIS, daughter of Ligdus and Telethusa. Her mother disobeyed the order of
Ligdus to expose the baby girl and deceived him by dressing Iphis as a boy, whom Ligdus betrothed to
IANTHE [eye-an'thee]. Telethusa prayed to Isis to pity the lovers, and the goddess turned Iphis into a boy,
and he and Ianthe were married.
ASIA MINOR
The Greek cities on the Aegean and Black Sea coasts of Asia Minor absorbed many non-Greek legends,
several of which have been included in Classical mythology because they were narrated by Ovid.
The Troad. DARDANUS [dar'da-nus], or DARDANOS was the son of Zeus and Electra (daughter of
Atlas). He came to the Troad and there married the daughter of King TEUCER [tou'ser], or TEUKER (son
of the river-god Scamander). He ruled over the land, which he called Dardania, and was the ancestor of the
Trojan royal family. In the Trojan saga the Trojans are called both Dardani and Teucri.
Sestos (European) and Abydos (Asiatic). These are two cities on the shores of the Hellespont. LEANDER
[lee-an'der] of Abydos loved HERO [hee'roh], priestess of Aphrodite at Sestos, swimming the straits each
night to visit her. One night a storm put out the light that she placed in a tower to guide him. He drowned,
and when Hero discovered his body washed up on the shore she fell to her death from the tower.
Phrygia. BAUCIS [baw'kis or baw'sis], or BAUKIS and his wife PHILEMON [fi-lee'mon] were a pious
Phrygian couple, who unwittingly entertained Zeus and Hermes in their cottage. The gods rewarded them
by saving them from the flood with which they punished the other Phrygians for their lack of hospitality.
Their cottage became a temple, of which they were the priests, and their prayer that they be allowed to die
together was answered when they simultaneously were turned into trees, an oak and a linden.
Miletus. BYBLIS [bib'lis], daughter of Miletus (eponymous founder of the city of Miletus), revealed her
love for her brother, CAUNUS [caw'nus], or KAUNOS. He fled, followed by Byblis, who out of
exhaustion melted into a fountain. Byblis and Thisbe are the names of fountains in Asia Minor, also .
Pyramus and Thisbe. THISBE [thiz'bee], like Byblis, is the name of a fountain in Asia Minor and
PYRAMUS [pi'ra-mus] or PYRAMOS is one of the major rivers of Cilicia, although Ovid sets the legend
in Babylon. Pyramus and Thisbe were lovers, who lived next door to each other but were forbidden by their
parents to meet or to marry. The talked through a crack in the party-wall and arranged to meet at the tomb
of Ninus, outside the city. Thisbe came first and fled when a lioness, her jaws bloody from a recent kill,
came to drink at the nearby fountain. She dropped her veil, which the lioness mangled. Later Pyramus
recognized the veil lying there and assumed that Thisbe had been killed. He killed himself, just as Thisbe
returned to find him dying. She in turn killed herself, and the fruit of the mulberry tree, under which the
tragic deaths took place, turned from white to black as a memorial of their deaths.

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CHAPTER 24: THE NATURE OF ROMAN MYTHOLOGY

Roman religion and mythology had their roots among pre-Roman Italian peoples, for example, the Sabines
and Etruscans.
Italian gods were not originally anthropomorphic like Greek gods, with whom they became identified:
SATURNUS (CRONUS); JUPITER (ZEUS); JUNO (HERA); VESTA (HESTIA);MINERVA (ATHENA);
CERES (DEMETER); DIANA (ARTEMIS); VENUS (APHRODITE); MARS (ARES); MERCURIUS
(HERMES); NEPTUNUS (POSEIDON); VULCANUS (HEPHAESTUS); LIBER (DIONYSUS); DIS
PATER (HADES or PLUTO)
Non-Italian gods whose names changed from the Greek included:
HERCULES (HERACLES); CASTOR and POLLUX (CASTOR and POLYDEUCES); AESCULAPIUS
(ASCLEPIUS); APOLLO kept the same name at Rome.
Janus. The god JANUS [jay'nus] was the god of beginnings, associated originally with water and bridges.
The doors of his temple were closed only in time of peace. He was also the god of doors, entrances, and
archways, and was identified with Portunus, god of harbors. He was portrayed with two faces, one looking
forward and one looking backward.
Mars. Originally an agricultural god, MARS [marz] gave his name to March, the first month of the year in
the pre-Julian calendar. His consort was Nerio, a Sabine fertility goddess. He became the Roman god of
war, sometimes with the title of Gradivus ("the marcher"), and sometimes associated with the Sabine war
god QUIRINUS [kweye-reye'nus or kweye-ree'nus]. Among other Roman deities of war was Bellona.
Animals associated with Mars were the wolf and the woodpecker (picus in Latin). The woodpecker was
said to have been a Latin king, Picus, who was turned into a bird by Circe, while his wife, Canens
("singer"), wasted away into a voice.
Jupiter. The Italian sky-god was JUPITER [joo'pi-ter], whose principal temple was dedicated on the
Capitoline Hill at Rome in 509 B.C. There he was worshiped as Jupiter Optimus Maximus, "Best and
Greatest," and shared his temple with Minerva and Juno. The triumphus (triumph), the procession

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celebrating a Roman general's victories, had this temple as its terminus. Like Zeus, Jupiter had the
thunderbolt as his special weapon, and the place where lightning had struck had to be purified by an
expiatory ritual. Jupiter caused a shield (ancile) to fall from heaven into Rome as a talisman of Roman
power. Along with eleven other ancilia (made so that there would be less chance of the genuine ancile being
stolen), it was kept in the Regia, the official quarters of the Pontifex Maximus, the head of Roman state
religion. As Jupiter Latiaris, Jupiter was chief god of the Latin tribes, and as the god associated with Fides
(Good Faith), he was identified with the Sabine god Dius Fidius, who also was identified with a Latin diety,
Semo Sancus. As Jupiter Indiges, Jupiter was worshiped beside the river Numicus, about twenty miles to
the south of Rome. The Di Indigetes (the plural of Indiges) were a group of gods whose functions are not
known, and Aeneas was deified as Indiges after his death beside the Numicus.
Juno. The goddess JUNO [jou'noh] originally presided over all.htmlects of the life of women, particularly
marriage (as Juno Pronoba) and childbirth (as Juno Lucina, whose annual festival was the Matronalia). As
Juno Moneta ("adviser") she was worshiped on the Arx (part of the Capitoline Hill) with a temple next to
the Roman Mint (which was called ad Monetam, hence the origin of the word mint). As Juno Regina,
"Queen," she was escorted to Rome from the Etruscan city of Veii on its defeat by the Romans in 396 B.C.
Like Hera with Zeus, Juno became the wife and sister of Jupiter in Roman literature, sometimes opposing
the will of Jupiter, as in her efforts to prevent the fated success of Aeneas.
Minerva. Also a pre-Roman goddess, MINERVA [mi-ner'va] was brought to Rome by the Etruscans and
identified with Athena in her attributes and functions, especially as goddess of activities requiring
intelligence. She was patroness of craftspeople and of schoolchildren; her festival was the Quinquatrus.
Vesta. The Italian fire-gods were Vesta, Cacus, and Vulcan. VESTA [ves'ta], the counterpart to the Greek
Hestia, was the goddess of the hearth, the center of family life and of the state's life as a community. She
was symbolized by the ever-burning fire in her temple in the Forum of Rome. Her cult was tended by six
Vestal Virgins, high officials in the hierarchy of state religion. Other household divinities were the
PENATES [pe-na'teez], defined as "the gods who are worshiped in the home." The Penates were identified
with the household gods of Troy entrusted by Hector's ghost to Aeneas and brought by him to Italy. The
Trojan Palladium was kept in the temple of Vesta; it was said to have been given by Diomedes to the
embassy of Aeneas that had sought his help.
Cacus. In Book 8 of the Aeneid, the Italian fire-god CACUS [ka'kus] is made out to be a fire-breathing
monster who stole the Cattle of Geryon from Hercules and was killed by him. The myth identifies his home
as a cave on the Aventine Hill; an ancient pathway leading up to the southwest part of the Palatine Hill was
called the Scalae Caci ("Ladder of Cacus").
Vulcan. The chief Italian fire-god was VULCAN [vul'can] (Volcanus), originally the god of destructive fire
but (through his identification with Hephaestus) also of creative fire. He was more important in the
pantheon than Hephaestus was among the Olympians. His forge was beneath Mt. Etna, and his associates
(the Cyclopes) and myths are all taken over from the Greek legends of Hephaestus.
Saturn. The leading Italian agricultural gods were Saturn, Mars, and Ceres. SATURN [sat'urn] was
identified with Cronus, and his consort, Ops, was identified with Rhea. In cult his partner was Lus, and the
partner of Ops was Consus (at whose festival, the Consualia, the rape of the Sabine women took place),
who presided over grain when it was stored. Saturn was said to have ruled over a Golden Age in the early
history of humankind. His festival, the Saturnalia, was a midwinter celebration, perhaps originally
connected with the sowing of grain.
Ceres. The Italian goddess of grain, CERES [seer'eez], was identified with Demeter. A temple was
dedicated to her at Rome in 493 B.C. She was associated with Liber (identified with Dionysus) and Libera
(identified with Kore-Persephone), so that the Roman triad of Ceres-Liber-Libera repeated the Eleusinian
triad of Demeter-Iacchus/Bacchus-Kore. When the grain was sown in the earth, it was protected by another
Italian earth-goddess, Tellus Mater (Earth Mother).

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Flora and Pomona. Minor fertility deities were FLORA [flo'ra] and POMONA [po-moh'na]. Flora was the
goddess of the flowering plants (including grain and the vine), and was said to be the consort of Zephyrus,
the West Wind, who gave her a garden filled with flowers and tended by the Horae (the Seasons) and
Graces (Greek Charites).
Pomona was the goddess of fruit that can be picked from trees, and she kept a garden from which she
excluded would-be suitors. The Etruscan god Vertumnus (perhaps "Changer" or "Turner") turned himself
into an old woman who advised Pomona to marry Vertumnus. When he resumed his usual form as a young
male god, she accepted him.
Pales. The deities (originally two) who protected the farmers' livestock were called PALES [pay'leez],
whose name later was used for one deity, male or female. Their festival, the Parilia (or Palilia) was
considered to be the anniversary of the founding of Rome.
Silvanus and Faunus. Two divinities of the woods were SILVANUS [sil-vay'nus or sil-va'nus], "Forester,"
and FAUNUS [faw'nus], "Favorer." In Vergil, Faunus is son of Picus and grandson of Saturn and father (by
Marica) of Latinus. Both he and Silvanus were identified with Pan and were thought to be responsible for
strange and sudden sounds in the woods. Faunus had oracular powers (both Latinus and the second Roman
king, Numa, consulted him), and his consort, Fauna, was identified with the Bona Dea ("Good Goddess"),
whose worship was only open to women.
Faunus (as the equivalent of the Arcadian god Pan) was worshiped by King Evander, who came from
Arcadia and founded Pallanteum, the first settlement on the Palatine Hill. His sanctuary was a cave on the
Palatine, called the Lupercal, where the infant Romulus and Remus were later suckled by the wolf (lupa).
In historical times young men ran around the boundaries of the Palatine near-naked because Faunus had
tried to seduce Omphale when she and Hercules were asleep in the Lupercal. He did not know that they had
exchanged clothes and found himself attempting to seduce Hercules. After that his followers (the Luperci)
went naked to prevent the repetition of such a painful error.
Venus. Originally, VENUS [vee'nus] was an Italian fertility goddess, especially the protectress of gardens.
Later she ws identified with Aphrodite, whose myths she appropriated, and her consort was Mars (although
her husband in myth was Vulcan). As mother of Aeneas she became much more important in Roman
mythology, a process that culminated in the dedication (A.D. 121) of a temple to Venus Felix ("Bringer of
Success") and Roma Aeterna ("Eternal Rome") by the emperor Hadrian. As Venus Cloacina she had a
shrine in the Forum beside the drainage system of the area (called the Cloaca); Pompey dedicated a temple
to her as Venus Victrix ("Conqueror") as part of his theater, the first permanent stone theater at Rome (55
B.C.). Julius Ceasar (46 B.C.) dedicated a temple to her as Venus Genetrix ("Ancestress"), honoring her as
the founder of his family, The gens Iulia. Her first temple at Rome (215 B.C.) was that of Venus Erycina
(i.e., the Venus who was worshiped at Eryx in Siciliy).
Priapus. The god PRIAPUS [preye-ay'pus] was the principal protector of gardens after the promotion of
Venus to the ranks of the major divinities. He was represented by a statue painted red with an erect phallus.
Ovid related (Fasti 1.415-440) that he tried to seduce the Naiad Lotis and was interrupted by the braying of
the donkey of Silenus, which then became the animal sacrificed to Priapus.
Deities of Waters. Besides Janus, the Italian water-gods were the river-gods, the nymphs of springs and
fountains, NEPTUNE [nep'toun] (Neptunus), and PORTUNUS [por-tou'nus]. The most important river-god
was TIBERINUS [ti-ber-eye'nus], who, in Book 8 of the Aeneid, appeared in a dream to Aeneas and
smoothed his water so that the Trojans could sail up to Pallanteum. Notable fountain-nymphs were
JUTURNA [jou-tur'na] and the CAMENAE [ka-mee'nee]. Juturna was the sister of the Rutulian hero
Turnus and had been raped by Jupiter. Her shrine was in the Forum and her precinct included the
headquarters of the water administration of Rome. The Camenae (identified with the Muses) were
worshiped outside the Porta Capena at Rome. Associated with them were the nymphs EGERIA [e-je'ri-a]

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and CARMENTIS [kar-men'tis], both water-divinities associated with childbirth. Egeria was said to have
advised King Numa, and Carmentis was said to be the mother of Evander and to have prophetic powers.
Diana. Later idenfied with Artemis, DIANA [deye-a'na] was worshiped at the Latin town of Aricia, near
which is Lake Nemi, called "Diana's mirror." She was concerned with the life of women and was
sometimes identified with Lucina, the birth-goddess more commonly identified with Juno. Through her
idenification with Artemis, she became goddess of the hunt and of the moon, and was further identified
with Hecate as an Underworld goddess. At Aricia she was associated with a minor Italian deity, Virbius,
who was identified with Hippolytus, brought to life again by Aesculapius.
Mercury. The temple of MERCURY [mer'kyou-ree] (Mercurius), originally a god of trade and profit, was
in the commercial center of Rome. Through his identification with Hermes he acquired the attributes,
functions, and myths of Hermes.
The Roman Underworld. ORCUS [or'kus] was the Roman Underworld, and its ruler was DIS PATER [dis
pa'ter], the equivalent of the Greek Pluto, since Dis is a form of dives, "wealthy," and in Greek, "wealth" is
ploutos. His cult was established in 249 B.C., and his consort was PROSERPINA [proh-ser'pe-na or
Proserpine [proh'-ser-peyen], the Greek Persephone. Roman poets inherited the mythology of the
Underworld from Homer and other Greek poets and from the philosophers (most notably Plato); they also
used the beliefs of the mystery religions, both Greek and oriental. These literary, philosophical, and
religious beliefs achieved a majestic synthesis in Book 6 of Vergil's Aeneid.
Native Italian ideas of the Underworld originated from the religious beliefs of early agricultural
communiities. Each person had his or her own Manes (spirits of the dead), and epitaphs began with "Sacred
to the Manes of..." (Dis Manibus Sacrum), followed by the person's name. Spirits of ancestors were
honored at the festival of Parentalia (in February, the last month of the old Roman calendar); the divi
parentum (gods of the ancestors) had no names and no mythology. Other spirits in the dead were Lemures
(identified by some poets with the Manes), who were propitiated in the family festival of the Lemuria in
May. The burial goddess was Libitina, and undertakers were called libitinarii.
Lares. The LARES [lar'ez] were household spirits, often linked with the PENATES [pe-na'tez] (see Vesta).
They could bring prosperity to the householder (in early times a farmer), and they were honored at the
winter festival of the Compitalia, at which dolls were hung up in shrines, one for each member of the
household. Each house had its Lar Compitalis, and each city had its Lares praestites (guardian Lares). The
Lares also protected travelers by land and sea.
Genius and Juno. The creative power of a man was symbolized by his GENIUS [jeen'nyus or gen'ius], and
of a woman by her JUNO. The marriage-bed, symbol of the continuing life of the family, was the lectus
genialis.
NON-ITALIAN GODS
Hercules. The earliest newcomer was HERCULES [her'kyou-leez] (Heracles), and his was the only foreign
cult that Romulus was said to have accepted at the founding of Rome (see Cacus). His precinct was in the
busy commercial area of the cattle market (Forum Boarium) and his altar there was the Ara Maxima
(Greatest Altar). Like Mercury, he was the patron of traders, to whom they dedicated a tithe of their profits.
The Dioscuri. CASTOR [kas'tor] and POLLUX [pol'lux] (the Latin form of Polydeuces), the DIOSCURI
[di-os-kou'reye], appeared on white horses at the battle of Lake Regillus in 496 B.C. and led the Romans to
victory, which they announced in the Forum after watering their horses at the fountain of Juturna. Their
temple was dedicated in the Forum soon after.
The Sibylline Books. The collection of oracles, written in Greek, known as the SIBYLLINE [si'bi-leyen]
books were bought, it was said, by the last Roman king, Tarquinius Superbus, from the Cumaean Sibyl

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herself (see M/L, chapter 9). She burned three of the nine books each time Tarquin refused to pay her price,
and he finally bought the last three at the price originally asked for all nine. The Sibylline oracles were kept
in the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill and were consulted in times of public difficulty. After the
original three were burned in a fire in 83 B.C., a new collection was made, which was put in the base of the
statue of Apollo in his temple of the Palatine Hill.
Apollo. The first temple of APOLLO [a-pol'loh] at Rome was dedicated in 431 B.C. on the advice of the
Sibylline books at a time of pestilence, and he was originally worshiped as Apollo Medicus ("Healer"). His
other functions were introduced over the next two centuries, and he was especially worshiped by Augustus,
the first Roman emperor, who dedicated a temple to him on the Palatine Hill. His functions, name, and
mythology were taken over from the Greek Apollo, except that the oracle at Delphi no longer had the
importance that it had had in the Greek world, although it continued to exist until the fourth century A.D.
Apollo's oracles at Claros and Didyma (both in Asia Minor) were more active under the Roman empire,
while the oracle of Apollo's father, Zeus, at Dodona ceased to function early in the period of Roman rule.
Asclepius. The Sibylline books also advised the bringing of ASCLEPIUS [as-kle'pi-us] (Aesculapius) to
Rome in 293 B.C. He came in the form of a snake, slipping from the ship that brought him from Epidaurus
onto the island in the middle of the river Tiber in Rome, where his temple was built.
Cybele and Mystery Religions. The goddesss CYBELE [sib'e-lee] also came to Rome (where she was
called the Magna Mater, Great Mother) on the advice of the Sibylline books. She came in 205 B.C. in the
form of a black stone from the Phrygian city of Pessinus, after the Delphic oracle had been consulted. Her
temple was dedicated on the Palatine Hill and her festival was the Megalensia. Her priests, called Galli,
performed ecstatic and colorful rituals, including self-mutilation, in their public processions.
The Greek, Egyptian, and Asiatic mystery religions were strong in the Roman empire. Besides Dionysus
and Demeter, Isis, Ma (Dea Syria, the Syrian Goddess), Baal (identified with Jupiter Dolichenus), and
Mithras were widely worshiped.
LEGENDS OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF ROME
Romulus and Remus. The last king of ALBA LONGA [al'ba lon'ga] (founded by Iulus) was Amulius, who
had driven out the rightful king, his brother Numitor. Numitor's daughter RHEA SILVIA [re'a sil'vi-a] (or
Ilia), although she was a Vestal Virgin, conceived twin boys by Mars, whom the servants of Amulis
exposed on the bank of the Tiber. A she-wolf suckled them near the cave of the Lupercal, below the
Palatine Hill. They were found by a shepherd, Faustulus, who, with his wife, Acca Larentia, brought them
up, naming them ROMULUS [rom'you-lus] and REMUS [ree'mus]. When they were grown up, the young
men were recognized by their grandfather, whom they restored to his throne at Alba.
The Founding of Rome. Romulus and Remus left Alba and founded their own city at the site of their
miraculous rescue from the river. The omens seen by Romulus through augury (divination by means of the
flight of birds) were more favorable than those seen by Remus, and the city was called Roma after
Romulus. During its building, Remus offended Romulus by jumping over his walls while they were being
built and Romulus killed him.
Romulus established his city and gave it laws. He enlarged the number of citizens by declaring the area
between the two parts of the Capitoline Hill to be an asylum, that is, a sanctuary where anyone could come
without fear of violence or prosecution. To provide women, Romulus and his men seized the women of the
Sabine tribes, who were spectators at the festival of the Consualia (see Saturn). This act lead to war with
the SABINES [say'beyenz], which was ended by the Sabine women themselves (now the wives and
mothers of Romans). The Sabines and Romans agreed to live together under the joint rule of the Sabine
king Titus Tatius, and Romulus. The Romans were called by the Sabine title Quirites.

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During the war with the Sabines, Romulus killed a Sabine leader and dedicated the spolia opima (i.e.,
spoils taken from an enemy commander killed by the Roman commander in person) to Jupiter Feretrius.
After a second battle, the wife of Romulus, Hersilia, persuaded him to accept the Sabines as Roman
citizens. Later TARPEIA [tar-pay'a] betrayed the Capitoline Hill to the Sabines, who crushed her to death
under their shields, and the Tarpeian Rock (from which criminals were thrown to their death) was called
after her. The god Janus saved the Forum from capture by causing jets of boiling water to burst forth, and
Romulus eventually won the battle there by vowing a temple to Jupiter Stator ("the Stayer"). During this
battle also, a Sabine warrior, METTUS CURTIUS [met'tus kur'shi-us or kur'ti-us], rode his horse thorugh a
marshy depression in the Forum, thereafter called the Lacus Curtius. The Romans later said that it took its
name from a Roman, Marcus Curtius, who sacrificed himself in 362 B.C. by riding his horse into a chasm,
since the soothsayers had advised that it would be closed only when "that which was most valuable to
Rome" was put into it.
Romulus disappeared from the earth miraculously and was deified as Quirinus, a Sabine god associated
with Mars. Hersilia became Hora Quirini ("the power" or "the will" of Quirinus).
The Successors of Romulus. Under the third king, TULLUS HOSTILIUS [tul'lus hos-til'i-us], a war
between Rome and Alba Longa was settled by combat between three brothers on each side: the Alban
champions were the CURIATII [kur-i-a'shi-eye or kur-i-at'i-ee], and the Romans were the HORATII [hora'shi-eye or ho-ra'ti-ee]. The victor (and only survivor) was HORATIUS [ho-ra'shi-us or ho-rat'i-us], who
killed his sister because she mourned the death of the CURIATIUS [ku-ri-a'shi-us or ku-ri-at'i-us] to whom
she was betrothed. As part of the ritual of purification for his crime he passed under a kind of crossbar, the
tigillum sororium, beside which were altars dedicated to Janus Curiatius and Juno Sororia.
The sixth king, SERVIUS TULLIUS [ser'vi-us tul'li-us], was said to be a grandson of Vulcan, who
showed his favor by various portents. Servius carried out many political reforms and introduced the
worship of Diana. He was murdered by the plotting of his daughter TULLIA [tul'li-a] and her husband,
TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS [tar-kwin'i-us su-per'bus], "the Proud." Tullia drove her coach over the body of
her father, which lay in the street, thereafter called Vicus Sceleratus ("Crime Street").
Tarquinius Superbus was the last king of Rome. His son, SEXTUS [sex'tus] Tarquinius, raped
LUCRETIA [lou-kree'she-a], the wife of Tarquinius COLLATINUS [col-la-teye'nus], who had been found
to be the most virtuous of all the Roman wives while their husbands were away on military service. She
told her husband and father of the crime and then stabbed herself. Tarquinius Superbus and his sons went
into exile, and the Roman monarchy came to an end.

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